The airlines see their customers as a) wealthy people who can pay whatever for convenience and service, b) business people who travel a lot for work, schedule-driven and not generally paying out of their own pocket, and c) folks who fly only once in a while, for vacations, and are very price sensitive. These are cattle to be shuttled around as cheaply as possible. Any consumer-oriented change the airlines are going to make are mostly for a, somewhat for b, and cost-cutting for c.