Race to the Bottom in Customer Service

I recently was on a long international airline flight during which I listened in on some flight attendants discussing upcoming changes in the airline's onboard service offerings. Listening to them - and watching the service attitude on the flight - it struck me that employee attitude and service delivery is directly affected by the service culture of the company. If the company starts to "nickle and dime" the customer, there is a very clear message that the customer is not, indeed, king. Not even royalty. And that attitude gets reflected in the "soft" side of things. Employee smiles and attitude.

Connecting to another carrier (an international carrier), and I had a completely different experience. The service offering was customer-focused. And, guess what? The employee attitude was customer centric. Coincidence?