As long as passengers prime motivation is the cheapest fares, the airlines will cut corners to ensure those fares are available.
Once again the old cliches are trotted out: It's the passengers' fault; You get what you pay for; Only yourself to blame!
Actually that is not how it works.
1st: Some 'entrepreneur' decides to enter the airline market with a low cost business model - seeing multiple different ways to squeeze the cost: suppliers; staff; turnaround times; passenger comfort & consideration.
2nd: Many who could not previously afford to fly can now do so.
...so far so good, however...
3rd: Many who did afford to fly but for whom it was a financial struggle now move to the low cost supplier.
4th: The established airlines see their economy class load factors drop.
5th: The established airlines join in with the low cost competitors on the economy-class race-to-the-bottom on quality.
6th: Business fares escalate in a bid to maintain the profit margins - hopefully the new levels of discomfort pulling in a few of the more comfortably-off from the economy cabin.
Which basically leaves the remaining majority of us sitting in discomfort, treated like cattle, and resenting those smug so and so's telling us we're only getting what we deserve.