Exactly Odmea - I agree. Passengers now days DO have a choice and are acutely aware of the equipment being used. Price is no longer sole motivation for choice of carrier, its a whole bunch of factors including value, fleet, connections, time and service.
Consider (rather appropriately) having to travel to VGZR (Dhaka). A 30 year old dc10/a300 or a 3 month old 773?? Hmmm? The "Amistad Syndrome" of labour placement agencies trying to move thousands of workers to the ME is a separate issue, but many people from Europe/States etc travel via the ME to the FE and the Antipodes, and they are exceptionally aware of the carrier and its equipment that they have chosen.
Passengers (SLF) do pay the bills and GF needs to drag themselves up to par, they no longer have the captive market of yesteryear, its dog eat dog.