What are some of the reasons that the quality of air travel is decreasing?

Delayed flights... lost luggage... What's going on?

fuel gone up 125% nobody can afford the flights ..plus they are shutting down flights to parts around the world cuz not enough people.

lot of airlines are losing money due to the rising prices in fuel

Cuts in pay, some passengers are complete morons, work schedules, some passengers are complete morons, etc.

Cost....mainly fuel costs

One word - DEREGULATION

It's a combination of rising costs and increased competition to keep fares low. It used to be airlines competed by providing the best service possible, but then "low cost carriers" came onto the scene. Their success proved that the public would rather pay less for "no frills" service. Legacy carriers have tried to emulate that model with limited success, mainly because the infrastructure that they have is already in place with huge overhead that smaller carriers don't have. But it was the only way to attempt to compete with the low prices of budget carriers.

One of the big price factors is the internet. People used to have to book tickets directly from the airline or though a travel agent. Now, thanks to the internet, the public can do direct price comparisons. Ticket prices are less than half of what they were in the 1980s, adjusted for inflation. This means they are trying to run a business with increased costs and decreasing revenues per passenger.

Ways airlines cut costs:

-FAST turn-around times. This means more misconnected baggage, less time to clean planes, and worse delays because of the cascade effect throughout the day. When there was 1.5 hours between flights on a plane, the plane was thoroughly cleaned, meals were loaded onboard, bags had plenty of time to get loaded, and there was plenty of cushion for one delay not to affect future flights on that plane.

-Cuts in employee pay and benefits. Many airline employees are unhappy and bitter about taking huge paycuts while working longer hours. Many have been laid off several times from different companies throughout their career. This is reflected in the level of service that they provide.

-Getting rid of extra services, or charging more for those services.

I don't think airline travel is getting any worse. Peoples expectations are rising, due to improvements in other areas of life, but the airline industry is getting no better. WHY? Because everything you see looks all sleek and glamorous, fancy new fly by wire planes and composite wings and double decks, but in the end, what is the airline industry about? Alot of damn bull work. These things are huge and a logistical nightmare to work on, especially as they get more complex. Fuel truck are still operated by guys who go through alot of BS, heat, cold,rain, snow. And guys still have to cram luggage in the bellies of these things, pull them out, load them in carts, and it takes alot of work and patience, which unfortunately no one has. An d mistakes happen. NOW we have more strict security than ever and an aging FAA infrastructure that gets worse not better because everyone is a tightwad when it comes to infrastructure upgrades from Washington DC to the guy fixing luggage carts.

Gas is getting more expensive, and airlines are cutting costs to save money. One of the ways they're cutting costs is by laying off workers - pilots, ground crew, flight attendants, and all of that does 2 things. 1 is that it makes every flight somewhat less enjoyable, and 2 is that it makes some things that need to happen not happen (maintenance, baggage loading, etc.)

I'll bet you got a good deal on that ticket when you bought it. That explains why the luxuries are going away.

Give me one other means of transportation that can get you from ATL to LAX in less than 5 hours for the price you paid for the ticket.

You got a great deal for what you are getting. Yes...traveling exactly when YOU want to IS a luxury.