Actually the CAB did coordinate and approve departure times and destinations. The other items came by way of the airlines swimming in money and not needing to pack people in like cattle.
A select few were awash in cash. There were plenty more that were a quarter or two away from disaster at all times.
Rose colored glasses looking into the past won't change it anyway.
Name one U.S. Flag airline willing to take a risk on something different than cattle car service, or anything business decision related for that matter?
There's no innovation in the sector. Maybe some -- in choice of aircraft in going with 787 -- but that's really a Boeing thing, more than an airline thing... and the Japanese bought the first ones.
But name one thing one of these companies has done that sent the message they wanted to delight their customers, and doing it ran any significant business risk to attempt it.
Southwest maybe, with "bags fly free", but they knew when they started that, that they had a few years left of fuel hedging to ride out a slow price increase and some time to see how heavy the aircraft averaged out to be / get good fuel burn numbers, without triggering bankruptcy.
It's a tough biz. Not picking on them, I don't have any answers for them, but repeating the same stuff kinda just leads to confining their thought process to solid mediocrity as far as risk-taking goes.
I'll be "up shopping" my one trip this year that I can't/won't risk on doing in the 182 due to time of year and weather and a tight schedule after last year's "moron patrol" flight home with basketball boy whining that he was in a center seat and hitting on the FA and playing his headphones at a level they could be heard three rows away while taking up half of my seat, and his assumption that he needed four rounds of snacks and drinks during a 2:20 flight.
I'm pretty sure if I had to listen to or put up with him any longer than that, I'd be in one of those videos beating his dumb ***.
We'll see which airline can do it. I won't be shopping bottom fare price. I only need to make that mistake once to ruin the trip home from a lovely vacation. Dumb on my part.