Price has always been a factor. It is a non-trivial amount for any international travel. The old country business travel can easily reach beyond what is reasonable. And I evaluate my trips based on cost and comfort ( I am way too old now to travel 12+ hours squashed ).

But you are, overall, wrong. The goal is, and always has been, milking. Extracting maximum of milk with a minimum of moo. The current breed of travellers are docile and compliant ( I honestly don't know my parents would have been able to pull some of things they did today ).

Consumers are idiots. I sometimes wonder if they even saw how things could be.