Just flew back from a pleasant week in Rhodes. Paid peanuts for a late booking and got precisely the the standard of accomodation I expected. Basic. But on the flights over and back I was distinctly uncomfortable with the seat pitch and I'm only 5'8". I hate to think what taller and larger individuals were experiencing.
I do think a limit has been reached. Maybe a seat redesign is in order.
Yes, as the Guardian article puts it well, flying the airlines is no longer a pleasant experience just an ordeal to be endured to get to our destination. An unpleasant interlude to be got through so we can go places we never could before.
All fine, except for a couple of things, even if you can afford to pay a bit more and want to make to make the experience more enjoyable, you can't. Fly Ryanair or Easyjet or any airline for that matter these days and if you miss the low fares you still pay a high premium for same treatment as everyone else. You can't get good seat pitches on short haul flights even if you wanted it. On long haul the premium you pay is enormous and unaffordable for the most part.
Add on security hassles, delays and the rest of those petty annoyances and you sometimes wonder why you bother to go anywhere that requres you to fly.
To be honest with the advent of the low fare culture I don't think people fly more often. But judging by the cluelessness of fellow passengers, more people are flying who previously didn't. If you fly at all you get used to the do's and don'ts and what to look out for. You can see examples all the time. The futile rush for the exit followed by the long wait at the luggage carousel. Another regular drama is the passenger who only flew previously with an airline without allocated seats getting all stroppy when asked to move from someone's allocated seat. 'We got here first' is the classic line.
Yes, flying as a passenger is just an endurance test at the moment.