Lets face the airline business is a victim of it's own success....
If flying has lost its prestige then why are so many people aspiring to become pilots? If these same wannabes have spent even 5 minutes looking at some of the threads on this forum (which I am sure many many of them have), and the terms and conditions are so bad - what attracts them?
Both Airbus and Boeing forecast a doubling in the size of the world's commercial aircraft fleet in the next 20 years. In fact their forecasts have been bullish for the last 10 years. Who did/do you think is going to fly these aircraft? The same physics, science or math graduates who can go to the city of London and be millionaires by the age of 30 robbing their grannies of their pensions? Get real!!
If you have come into this business in the last 10 years thinking you were joining some exclusive club then frankly you are beyond saving.
The fact of the matter is there are still good flying jobs out there that pay a decent crack, you just have to work hard to get them. The fact that people don't trip overthemselves in awe at your god like abilities to is neither here nor there.