While I do normally fly a Spit XVI and I do normally fly over 15K (to get into whatever plane I'm in into it's "sweet spot", normally between 8-17K depending on the plane, and to be prepared for buff hunting) that wasn't the case on this particular night. Had I been flying a Spit XVI at 16K I would have easily run down the runners. As it was, I was under 8-10K in the match-ups I posted earlier:
In my opinion, a Pony/Pony match-up, an La-7/Spit match-up or a 205/Spit match-up aren't that far fetched. In every case we were co-alt or with me at an alt disadvantage.
As I mentioned above, I normally do fly a Spit XVI and normally just over 15K. The XVI is my recent preferred buff hunter but it needs to have alt on the buffs to survive the gun passes. If I don't run into buffs I end up on the deck like everyone else, usually with my throttle chopped getting there with the "right" amount of E. Once on the deck Spits can't really run and they do attract a hoard. Eveyone wants to kill a XVI as quickly as possible.
Well, that's why right there. There's a pretty small list of people that regularly fly that high, a smaller list still of those who are able to fight decently up there and an even smaller list of people who fly that high in a plane that would likely want to get intimately involved with an uber "hyper-modelled" ride like the Spit16. I suggest you separate in your mind sorties you intend to fly high and buff hunt and those you intend to engage other fighters. When you are on a sortie where you would like to be engaged by other fighters, fly a less uber ride much lower, I promise you will be rewarded with many more fights.
In all of those examples you were in the plane with the maneuverability advantage. I am not saying they couldn't have had a reasonable go at you depending on their E and skill level. But, I am saying you are faulting them for not engaging you when you were in a position of some advantage. I can never fault someone for that because it is completely logical, perhaps not the most fun, but it's the correct play logically when all other factors are equal.
When I am in my Typhoon a Spit16 can kiss my hairy white arse Co-E/Co-Alt. I'm going to either suck him down for a thorough gang-banging or disengage until I have some E/Alt on him then come back and wax his arse. The privilege of being willingly engaged more often is reserved for those who fly aircraft not intrinsically superior to the vast majority of the planeset and not higher than 75% of the aircraft in your combat area. If you're not willing to give that up, you're going to continue to be disappointed I'm afraid.
I suggest you perform an experiment. Pick a plane from the list I mentioned earlier and never fly it above 10k, then report back to us how different your perception is of people's willingness to engage you.