What surprises me is that people are surprised.
Years of watching the industry being cheapened, and now seeing totally unqualified people, on a daily basis, humiliating ordinary families that are trying to reach their departure lounge. Cabin crews who seem to have learned that they have super powers. They can be as unpleasant as they like, and sometimes downright threatening.
Today's passengers are the passengers that have had enough.
'We' spent years trying to make flying a pleasurable experience for our passengers. Now I for one, dread it so much that I stay in the heat rather than go home. Every day I hear of people that don't want to go through the experience.
The industry as a whole is more vulnerable than any other business I can think of. The investments are breathtaking, and the slightest glitch in the planning can leave millions of dollars worth of kit doing nothing.
Parked, a large aircraft has to be insured and the patch on which it's parked, paid for. I recall Laker's 10's sitting around while routes were argued over. Just a day on the ground cost the price of a nice house - if you included the investment in the equation.
Investing in aviation has never been for the feint hearted, but now, what sane person would put their money into aviation?
This kind of unstable model means that the decline will become a spiral dive, not a gentle and temporary decline in profits. It is world-wide already, and the prospects are horrific. The only hope is that people can be offered a pleasant experience again...and this means everybody has to have a common goal, not just the beleaguered aircrew. Security, immigration, ground staff that are actually there when the PA says 'Ask one of our....etc.,'
I won't list my grumbles, but some of the treatment of elderly passengers that I've witnessed in the last few years has taken my breath away.