I think it's worth pointing out that this requirement to use first name last name originated with governments, not the airlines. I have a suspicion the first government to implement the requirement was Saudi Arabia. It only became noticable after 9/11 when the USA tightened their requirements.
The airlines are not completely innocent but they didn't start it all. What they have done is take a pragmatic decision to apply a standard that seems to be being adopted by Goverments worldwide.
Mind you, I sometimes wonder how thorough some of the checks are. My wifes birthdate has single digit day and month and I entered it the "wrong way" (e.g. m/d not d/m) for one country with no issues on multiple border crossings.