Being able to fly at all is a much better passenger experience than not having that choice in the first place. And I'll bet that flying first class today is far better than 50 years ago.
I wasn't flying first class 50 years ago, but everything I can see now leads me to believe that this isn't even slightly true. There might be a high def flatscreen in front of me in first class today, but I'm not getting more attention than someone would've gotten back then, I'm not in a less crowded airport while I'm boarding, and the security mess is more demeaning than ever.
The only reason that people aren't rioting for all the changes is that no one even remembers how good it used to be.
Because not that many people even used to fly. Because it cost a lot more.
A 1950s flight experience would have been on something with piston engines and propellors, like a DC-6 or a Super Constellation. Noisy, turbulent, and not particularly safe by modern standards.
Today's airliners fly high where the air is smooth, they've gotten very good at avoiding turbulent weather, and there are automated damping systems. The barf bags are still there, but I've never seen anyone use one.
The cool thing about piston airliners, though, is the the engine start.
Today's high bypass jet engines also qualify as a turboprop.
The sound of a Merlin V12 coughing into life is just pure joy. My dad had the best job in the world flying P-51s (powered by Merlins). I hired a P-51 to do a flyby at his funeral. I only had to pay for the gas.
The easiest way to make conditions get better is to make sure the people in charge have to use things, be it busses, bike lanes, trains, airports, public bathrooms, parks with bums, etc. Otherwise it always hits the middle and lower class to absorb it.
"Between 1950 and 2018, efficiency per passenger grew from 0.4 to 8.2 RPK per kg of CO2"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuel_economy_in_aircraft
https://www.explore.com/1762212/reason-why-plane-experience-...