If you want to get a glimpse of what air travel was like, three or four decades ago, check out a video from the Golden Age of Hollywood, circa 1960s.

By doing so, youll see what flying was about: big seats, leg room galore, people dressing in their best clothing, and solicitous flight attendants, who actually found their jobs, glamorous.

It was like eating in a four-star restaurant, where todays air passages are more like having hash slung at you in a dusty, roadhouse diner.

What happened to the airlines, and can they recover?

(1) Deregulation. The government used to allow price-fixing in the airline industry, and this enabled fares to be kept high enough so carriers could cover their costs, and then some, still offering edible meals and legroom for all.

(2) Stable Fuel Costs. Until the late 1970s, the price of jet fuel was a constant. Now, it can soar by 50% in a month or two.

(3) September 11. It is a pain to fly, if you do it a lot, for business. Security requirements have cut the business day by two hours, while making the entire process arduous, at best.

(4) Travel Alternatives. Its amazing to see how much web conferencing and telephone conferencing are being substituted for live seminar training, and similar adjustments are being made in other industries.

(5) Business Models Are Changing. One of my professors said if youre a consultant, you have to fly everywhere to do business. Not anymore, because consulting is giving way to coaching and other models that are more local and communication intensive, and not travel intensive. Must I fly? is now the question that professionals are asking, and increasingly, the answer is no.

There will always be air travel, but increasingly, it is going to be a matter of choice, and not compulsion. The airlines, in most cases, have not been able to improve the customer experience in any substantial way, to counteract the effects of the perfect storm that they have faced in the last few decades.

If they hope to thrive, theyre going to have to be a lot more proactive and creative than they have been in a long time.