What other business besides the airlines can treat their customers so badly?

Question

How can the airline business get away with treating their customers so badly? The delays, the tons of junk fees, the lax maintenance issues, the awful ticket pricing systems, etc.

Many other businesses would go belly up if they treated their customers so badly. How can the airlines get away with treating those whose survival they depend on, so poorly.

Answer 1

Because there isn't any better option, And the U.S. Government pays for their massive losses (with the exception of Southwest Airlines - which has the best Customer rating of all the airlines).