Charlie, if people had to pay $12,000 to fly, most wouldn’t fly. This might not bother you, but it bothers them, and it bothers the airline.
It’s worth noting that even buying an extra seat or buying a seat in a more expensive class does not guarantee not sitting next to a woman. Airlines overbook all the time, and reassign seats or bump passengers. I would assume that the first “passenger” to be bumped would be an empty seat.
As far as your comment that you would “would object to a person delaying a flight for 45 minutes when he/she doesn’t get his/her way”, your condescending attitude towards those with different religious standards than your own notwithstanding, this is not a childish tantrum we are talking about, these are legitimate religious sensitivities we’re dealing with. You have every right to disagree with them, but you shouldn’t be so intolerant.
Also, to reiterate, some are denying that the delay was related to mixed seating altogether, but even according to the original story, the delay wasn’t from the passengers making a fuss, it was in getting their luggage off of the plane.