But you do have to check in so early, so that you can be enticed to spend your hard earned cash on stuff you don't want / need in the shopping malls that are an integral part of all major airports today. Not only that but as you've had to get to the airport so early you'll need refreshment - and low and behold, the airport has got that one covered too - generally at exorbitant cost to the punter!
It's horses for courses, despite all the disadvantages, it can be very convenient to take a flight, and cheaper too in many cases. As for duty-free shops on the airport, if not impressed or not interested, just walk past.
A good tip is to check-in online. Another is to travel with hand baggage only if possible, that saves a lot of time.
Also, pre-flight time on the kind of smaller airports that BE mostly operates out of doesn't have to be that long. In fact this is a good selling point for small airports, they should make more of it.
In fact for those of us whose local airport is Heathrow, passing through a small airport is a novelty, and makes a very pleasant change.
Oh for the "good old days" of flying in the 60s and 70s - things were so much simpler in those days! (I appreciate that some won't remember them, that's the benefit of being a "grumpy old man").
To an extent, yes, but it's a double-edged sword: it was damned expensive! Fares were fixed by IATA, and the same on all carriers. First class was twice the price of economy, which was only of a fully flexible type. Hence the need to "reconfirm" travel, so that carriers could have a rough idea of the numbers turning up for a flight.
This cosy arrangement ended when non-IATA carriers started charter flights and the legacies introduced ABC ("
Advance
Booking Charter") and APEX ("
Advance
Purchass
Excursion") fares to compete.
Also, most longhaul flights were multi-stop, and frequencies were shockingly low.
Am also an old(ish) git, but not a grumpy one.