The people get what the people deserve. The problem is that unfortunately when it comes to pubic transportation, ALL of the people get what only SOME of the people want, the some just happen to be the majority.

Unfortunately, a lot of people are willing to accept almost anything except perhaps 'standing room only' tickets, if it means they can go on their annual vacation to wherever. So an airline can fill Economy with those people and those who want a bit more space etc. have no choice but to accept that and realize that flying Economy is simply not an option for them. I gave up on flying Economy years ago.

I suppose there are 2 ways to look at it. Go back to a decent amount of space, ammenities included, etc. as in the past for Economy, but at a higher price or pay the price you need to pay to get what Economy used to get and fly in a more premium cabin. What is not going to happen is that seat space will get bigger and everyone will then pay more to fly in the way the OP, I and others want to fly. The airlines are simply responding to demand and the demand is for cheap seats. You can't have cheap seats and better service at the same time. The equation has to balance or a company goes out of business. Price minus cost equals profit.

Flying used to be something that not everyone could afford to do and not everyone thought they should be able to afford to do. It's that second part that causes the problem. Putting it bluntly, if poor people realized they were poor and didn't try to buy seats on a plane, airlines would have no one to sell 30" pitch and 17" wide seats to. But as long as those people are willing to pay for those seats, the airline will sell them, why wouldn't they? It is the market (the public) that creates demand, not the airlines. The airlines simply follow demand.

Flying today is simply a bus with wings and our expectations should start from that point of fact. If I can afford to own a car and not have to share space with everyone else, I buy a car and leave riding the bus to the poorer people. At least with flying, if I can't afford my own jet, I can pay more and sit in the bigger seats at the front of the plane, not in the back with the poor people.