Are U.S. Airlines Repeating The Mistakes Of 1970s U.S. Automakers?

During a recent trip overseas, we flew Aer Lingus on the outbound flight and a traditional US airline carrier for the return trip. Aer Lingus, outperformed the traditional US carrier by a long-shot. The service and amenities were in sharp contrast to each other. This got me wondering if US airlines are repeating the same mistakes made by 1970s US automakers.