You know the answer to that one. They want to show up as the cheapest in a search engine like Travelocity.
BTW, if customers are outraged enough and express it, airlines will back off new charges. A few years back USAir started charging for water. They dropped it in a week or so.
The exact reason for the post. People get treated poorly, don't do anything about it and wonder why things get worse.
It wouldn't take that much to bring the airline industry down to its knees. Maybe 2 to 3 days of people doing a complete boycott on flying and many of these carriers would be in the red for the entire year.
How do these executives and board members look at themselves in the mirror every morning after treating people like this? American Airlines' Bob Crandell and his penny pinching brought this on. Believe it or not, this philosophy all started with cutting olives out of meals to improve the bottom line.