I don't know nothin' 'bout flyin' no boeings. But I do know that ATC has made me get outta the way of a scheduled, faster aircraft especially if it was on an IFR flight plan. Usually ATC frowns on planes touching each other so most of their priorities yield to the less maneuverable and faster hunk of flying metal. I've also been on my own instrument approaches (even in VMC) and been given priority landing clearances over VFR traffic. This makes sense because doing a mere prelanding checklist on a fixed gear single-engine plane for a VFR landing is trivial compared to say setting up a full ILS approach and then doing all the prelanding preparation of a complex aircraft while trying to keep the glideslope and centerline needles centered. Needless to say, holds are very expensive for folks flying the big iron.
Now something I can speak to a little better is the power required curve (or just power curve) of a plane. In non-accelerating flight, a plane must make enough thrust to equal aerodynamic drag. Drag is made of parasitic and induced drag:
Parasitic drag goes with speed squared and induced goes with the reciprocal. Look at these two curves. Where they meet is the least drag. This is where the plane will climb the at the highest rate, and will glide the longest.
Now, look a the power required:
The power required curve is the least where the drag is. Notice that going slower and going faster will both require more power. There is a speed called minimum controllable airspeed (MCA) where it takes full throttle to keep the plane in the air and yet the wing is right on the edge of stalling.
Ideal speeds of an aircraft are determined and published by the manufacturer after tests nearly as extensive as those that Darin does on his metro. Pilots are trained to know what to do with these speeds and to memorize them for the particular plane at hand.