Airlines have also had really shitty luck as an industry, that isn't high margin to begin with, facing two exogenous near death experiences in 20 years with 9/11 and Covid.
It’s a miracle that airlines are as functional as they are. People REALLY like flying.
I've certainly had a few airline experience that ended in my wishing I had just driven from A to B because delays and the general inconvenience of it all meant that it would have been faster AND cheaper to drive, but of course we didn't know that when we booked the flight.