What you just said is basically "let them eat cake." You're talking about a captive monopoly with no real-world alternative. We're still being charged fuel surcharges even though the prices have gone down for fuel. The choice is between flying and not flying and in many cases having a job and not having a job.

Now realistically airlines aren't thieves, they generally have a hard time with their profit margins, but that doesn't mean that they shouldn't be severely regulated.