I remember the great days back in the 80's when there was Air Cal and PSA flying between LA and SF and San Jose. They were neck and neck competitors and would take each other's tickets from you just to get their competitor's business. PSA had friendly hot flight attendants - but really packed you in. Air Cal had a totally like laaaid back attitude and seats so widely spaced that you couldn't reach the seat in front of you with your foot.
We would take a 7 am flight from SF or SJ down to LA for a 9 am meeting down at Space Division - and could absolutely count on either one of them getting you there on time...until PSA got bought out by USAir, and Air Cal got bought out by AA. I remember the first day USAir took over...we hadn't LEFT by 9 am. Their whole attitude was "Hey, all we promise is to get you there sometime today."
Later, when I relocated to Charlotte NC, USAir chased everybody out of their hub in Charlotte, which had bent over backwards to get the hub located there. In return, USAir charged the highest prices in the country for flights originating out of Charlotte, based on per mile averages. Why? Because they could.
Screw USAir.
I used to take a flight almost every thursday from Burbank to San Diego when we were rebuilding the California Building in Balboa Park for a job meeting and take the payroll and PSA even held the flight for me a couple of times when I was still getting a ticket in the terminal and they were ready to take off.
It was even cheap, I think a round trip Burbank/San Diego was just under $14.