I retired from the legacy telephone company ( Verizon) years back, about the time all these methods you have correctly identified were destroying the company and stock price . These companies are able to push the service bar lower and lower as the up and coming generation of consumers do not remember how good things used to be, hence they consider these insults to our dignity and intelligence to be acceptable and they continue to patronize the offending companies. Now Frontier seems to be fessing up to what they are doing. The customer care ( what a contradiction) person I had my last dispute with accurately stated to me that Frontier is " AN ultra-cheap airline", those words exactly, and therefore I am getting what I pay for. Can't argue there, the same Baltimore flight would cost double on American Airlines. But I used to pay double or 2.5 times more to fly on Continental and I was Elite, almost always in First Class, and I was a loyal customer. I felt that the cost was worth the better treatment. So I guess this is what we are stuck with until some paradign shift in public attitude occurs.