They enjoyed more leg room and more personal service. Flights are more crowded, there is less leg room and the service is less personalized. Competition encourages creative marketing, such as extremely low off-season fares on certain routes, to increase traffic. Sch edules are out of sync. Connecting flights rarely dovetail.
Airports are mob scenes of travelers trapped in long layovers.
Before deregulation fares were determined by the number of miles flown. Fares for long hauls were more costly than shorter ones. Because long hauls were more profitable for the carrier than short hauls, airlines used those profits to subsidize the short h ops. This balance was upset when competition entered the picture. A bevy of new airlines challenged the old names in aviation and competition was focused on long hauls.