"The era when customers could afford to pay for seats on full-service airlines with decent meals and legroom is becoming a quaint memory."

Let's see some numbers on this. There is a lot of data suggesting that airline fares over the long term have, at worst, remained constant.

This difference, I believe, is that now Johnny Lunchbucket feels entitled to his overseas holiday, which was the preserve of the very well to do in the 'good old days'.