Unfortunately the airlines seemed to be trapped in a vicous downward spiral. Understaffing combined with unrealistic schedules virtually guarantee many if not most flights will be late. Demoralized front line staff who are under layoff threats and have had there T & C's significantly rolled back have to deal with a never ending stream of unhappy passengers. Now the high cost of fuel will add further pressures to cut staff, while the airlines continue to encourage unreasonable expectations on the part of passsengers by promising what they cannot delever and pricing fares below the cost of running the operation.
I cannot see how things could significantly impove without a fundamental change in he airline business model which would IMO have to start with a real effort to educating the travelling public on what their ticket does (and more importantly doesn't) buy.