Malc4d asked "Is it just me........or is everyone involved in aviation or airports trying their hardest to pi*s off the paying customer"
As a frequent traveller, who took his first business flights in 1978, I have seen a number of changes in the subsequent 30 years and would like to give my opinion.
The nature of air travel and in particular short haul, has changed significantly and the loco model has been in the ascendancy for the past 10 years or so.
During much of that period, the world has been in growth that means that year on year expansion for airlines has been achievable by the combination of being there to provide a service and being able to do so at a price that is perceived as giving value for money by the punters.
As well as creating a whole new bunch of travellers, who can now afford to take flights or take flights instead of trains (which are becoming very expensive), in effect creating a new market segment, the loco model has also cannibalised the traditional airlines and (lest we forget) the charter operators too.
The traditional airlines reacted to to the loco attack by slashing prices (and service levels) in short haul economy class and it is against this backdrop that many people have entered the aviation business.
They have learned their trade in an environment where (perceived) price was king and the customers were 'units' who are processed with minimum flexibility and occasionally contempt.
Not only the economy pax have suffered, since those of us who take short haul business class have found that the service is now not much better than economy 20 years ago (lounge access being one differentiator that still exists.)
Long haul premium still tends to be a nice experience.
However, the cold winds of recession are starting to blow and I believe that life is about to get much tougher for many airlines.
What financial analysts call a "correction" is highly likely and this innocuous term will be anything but innocuous for those affected.
In short, the leisure traveller is likely to need their money to pay for other things (assuming that they still have a job) and the volume of pax is likely to drop sharply.
Then we will see how robust the loco model is and which airlines survive in the ensuing dog fight to attract the passenger.
In short, many new hires in the airline world (<5-6 years) are about to have a profound learning experience, which may well cause them to view pax in a different light.
To answer the original question, I don't think that many people deliberately try to enrage pax, but they are going to learn the hard way that the customer is king/queen and is worthy of careful treatment.