If people were willing to pay what it costs to provide the service, it wouldn't be as much of a problem. But the average american thinks that he should be able to fly cross country for $500 round trip all-in... and the math doesn't work that way.

If you're actually paying for F/C/Y/B tickets (i.e. $1000+ domestic or 4x-10x that intl) then you have every right to complain ferociously about the crap service that your money gets you, because the airline is actually making a profit on your money. If you're flying on almost any discount fare you probably aren't even covering your own costs, so sit down, shut up, and be happy that the people who are paying close-to-full fare are there to subsidize your travel experience.

(And for the record, I'm almost always one of the people being subsidized, rather than one of the ones paying close-to-full-fare)

If you want to know how lean you can run an airline just look at Southwest... and they still sell MOST of their round trip USA tickets in the $400-$500 range... and there are no clubs, no food, no free booze, no upgrades, no ...

you see the point I'm making? ;-)