I've done hundreds of flights in the 'States - on legacy carriers and LCC. You should see what the Americans bring on board in the line of food and drinks. HUGE buckets of Coke, etc, trays of Big Macs, etc - if you think seats on LCCs in Oz are cramped - try sitting in a size 8 seat in between two Size 24 Americans with cardboard tray loads of food and drinks....
....the point is that on a genuinely short haul operation [up to say an hour and a half] people should be prepared to treat the travel like a train or bus trip.
BTW - saw an article recently about a Japanese carrier that wanted to remove all seats on short haul domestic flights in Japan, and install poles/rails and overhead straps [like a bus]! Now that would be something!! [Didn't get past the regulator though].