It’s been my experience that people will suffer an amazing amount of discomfort and humiliation to get a cheap price on something. People want cheap airfare, because they feel they have a god given right to travel far from home for a vacation (it’s probably in the constitution, somewhere).
Say a company wanted to start an airline that restored the old model (no charge on checked bags or on-board food, plenty of leg room, etc.), but they said “our minimum ticket price will be three times higher than every other airline to cover the cost and make a profit”. Do you think that company would stay in business long, or even get off the ground?