I've been working w/ one of the top airline companies in the Middle East for the past year. One of these that are "luxury". I've been on-site in their HQ for 6 months and worked with their IT department.
The environment was exactly as the stereotype above. There was not even free coffee for the employees.
A great many "normal" airlines are slowly going broke, or trapped in an endless merger cycle. Not much joy there I think.
Do you have any real world data regarding working conditions in "normal" airlines?