Can I just butt in and say that I'm sick of the argument that "Safety in back is the fault of the meat in back that wants to pay so little?" If nothing else changed but that the tickets cost ten times as much, we'd still have the same problem. An administrator gets paid by cutting costs, regardless of the company's position. Two easy ways to cut costs are to cut salaries and to declare bankruptcy so that the pension fund might be raided.
In every civilized country, an airline ticket is issued guaranteeing transport to a minimum standard of safety, that the government ensures through regulation. In most places, the suits and marketing types get angry if one airline advertises its superior safety: safety is something that is supposed to be equal across airlines.
So it's not a problem higher ticket prices will resolve. And yes, passengers will seek the cheapest fare, but when that door closes, they forget about the ticket price.
The "efficiency experts" are always several steps ahead of the safety regulators, and several steps behind common business sense. So maybe it's time for a complete overhaul of regulation, considering that the crew's life and well-being as a whole has a direct impact on safety? There are ways to regulate a higher salary, the easiest of which is to reduce the pool of qualified personnel.
While they're at it, they can look at best practices for keeping the passengers calm. The latest batch of MBAs seems to have forgotten the wisdom of past generations: mammals become skittish and aggressive when enclosed together and denied food. Charging for meals may make a few bucks, but even giving out free crackers will calm the folks down and establish the proper power dynamic (provider-client as opposed to servant-patron), which, by the way, will help tremendously in an emergency.