Most fliers want the lowest price, full stop. They'll complain about it to no end but will still keep voting for it with their wallets.
Must be an interesting challenge separating out real user issues from the volume of complaints about the service people were advertised and agreed to up front.
Is it that most fliers want that, or is that headline ticket price is the easiest thing to compare with existing tools, and what people can compare easily shapes their selection criteria?
It's not necessary for every single flight to have multiple acceptable flight options for the market forces ("vote with your wallet") to have an effect. You could not go. You could drive. You could fly into another airport and drive the last leg. You could charter.
I go out of my way to choose Delta(/KLM/AF), JetBlue, and Southwest over United, Frontier, Spirit, and Ryan. That works, even if it means I once in a great while fly on United because that's the best choice for that particular trip/leg.
How many markets are served by, say, United and only United? Other than their Micronesia operation, I can't think of any where you wouldn't be able to drive to an alternate airport within an hour or so drive (really just EAS airports).
Must be an interesting challenge separating out real user issues from the volume of complaints about the service people were advertised and agreed to up front.