All good comments and reasonable assumptions as to how flying has migrated over the years. Boeing does build the aircraft and configures the interior to the airline’s liking that is purchasing that particular version.
The spacing between seats has tightened over the years in order to accommodate more passengers on the same plane. Doing that does aid in holding down ticket costs on that flight. I can only speak for United, but they offer varied types of service. Even in coach, a passenger can buy a “regular” seat or a seat with additional leg room for an additional fee.
On the larger aircraft, like I flew, which was mainly the B-767, we had 4 classes of service on coast to coast non-stop service. First Class, Business Class, Coach with additional leg room and standard Coach. On International flights, which I never flew due to my lack of interest of flying a plane over the ocean (pond) and sharing the flying duties with another flight crew just never interested me. My wife used to try to encourage me to bid on International flights, but the closest that I came to flying International was flying the B-747 from Chicago to Honolulu/Kauai for two years.
Some business people would fly with us so often that the flight crew, myself included, would get to know the passengers by name. I remember a few business people that were members of the million mile club, meaning that they had accumulated over 1,000,000 miles that were considered as award miles and they could use those miles to fly their family and/or friends anywhere in the world where United flew.
I also agree that the struggle getting through the airport is a royal pain, especially now that we also have to deal with the TSA. I was sometimes unsatisfied with the way the TSA did their job at times, especially when it came to the way some of them would treat the female members of the flight crew. L.A. and N.Y. were the worse. I will say that the quality of the airport food being offered at the various restaurants has improved greatly.
I often wish that there was a way that the airports and airlines could make flying a more enjoyable experience than it is now. I also liked the days when people dressed more appropriately. I don’t mean that passengers should wear suits and dresses, but some of the attire that I have seen worn over the years, made me wonder how they could even afford the price of the ticket. Heck, I could tell that some passengers didn’t even bother to comb their hair.
I had had the best seat in the house. There is no greater feeling than climbing into the cockpit, preparing for the flight and then the flight itself. At times, it was a challenge, but overall, there is nothing that I would have ever wanted to do.
I would like to see how flying has developed 100 years from now.
(Sorry for the long post.)