Lawyers and bankers a) don't fly on their own dime, b) have huge potential financial upside in getting those deals done.

I would go the other way and claim the other professions you mentioned must be the coddled ones. How little must they actually have responsibility for in their personal life if they can just fly across country at a moments notice? I can’t do that, I have responsibilities to take care of that are way more important than stroking some guys ego.

That is part of their job. They are likely well paid for that disruption to their lives (or should be, I honestly don't know).

This is not part of what the engineers signed up for and has nothing to do with being "coddled"

Loyer's and Bankers know that's part of the job depending on where they work. When going over job expectations at all of my jobs traveling with one days' notice was never expected.

By this logic the vast majority of workers in any industry are coddled