Especially when it comes to air travel, it's probably a self-fulfilling prophesy. There's the perception that people are grouchy when traveling (and doesn't seem to matter whether infrequent leisure traveler or road-warrior on business) and when we combine that with largely only remembering the negative reactions and...there you go.
Air travel has become so uncomfortable[0] and the loss of control feels so total that people seem more likely to enforce what little territory/control they have just because they can, not for any rational reason.
0 - Yes, yes, I know, mathematically it is cheaper, safer, more frequent, and so on... But it doesn't matter. It's turned passengers into self-loading cargo and every part of the experience, from queuing to be argued with when dropping off a bag (or dealing with a half-broken and poor user experience automated kiosk), then queuing to be yelled at through the shitty experience that passes for "air security" in the States, then queuing in a blob to get onto the pressurized metal tube then squeezing into ever-smaller seats[1], to be lectured at about how the twenty minutes of rules barked at me are for "my safety and comfort" meanwhile I can't even go pee once on a four-hour flight because of the seatbelt sign, and so on. People have compared it to "bus travel in the sky" but I have a far better experience riding King County Metro in Seattle--at least I can move around and pull the cord to get out wherever I want--than I do on almost every airline flight I take.
1 - Yes, yes, I know, you get what you pay for, but increasingly airlines are only willing to sell me two kinds of fares: a) rock-bottom, $79 each way each person, absolutely-nothing-included-except-maybe-emergency-oxygen, 37 rows back next to the aux power unit, and with add-ons bringing the per-way, per-person fare to $341.92; or 2) exotic business class with throne seats, flatware, a three-course meal served even on a flight from Dallas to Houston, no lines anywhere, and a personal thanks of gratitude from the Captain, First Officer, Purser, and Chief Baggage Handler, all for the low price of $4,027.88 per person, per way. On the handful of flights with "premium economy" (that get me a little more leg room, which I like, but no more seat width, which i don't), they're increasingly taken by the airline's Elite Travelers and what used to be $30-$60 to buy up has increased to $70-$100.
Raylan Givens