Cut $100k/year off the top 12+ year captain pay, and the legacy airlines could serve caviar to everyone. And the pilots would still receive an above industry average pay.
It's not just the ME3. Lufthansa serves caviar (the real stuff, not the fake american stuff) in their first class. They have a private terminal in Frankfurt, with MB/Porsche driving you to your plane after your personal assistant informs you that it is time to board. BA has a couple of private lounges for their first class/most frequent fliers.
Both airlines turn a nice profit without any unfair government handouts. Difference is - those airlines seem to want your business, US3 couldn't give a damn.

United is an embarrassment in every single way, they hate their customers, even the premium ones. US domestic transcon in first with only crackers to eat, not even for purchase. Good going, UA. (SFO-ATL redeye). AA has decent ground experience and they actually care about their frequent fliers, but their hard product just isn't competitive. DL has a comparable business class product to BA/LH, but economy is pure torture, they also hate their frequent fliers.

It's easy to blame others, but the fault is with your management and your absolutely insane pay rates for top captains. There's no reason why a 12-year captain turns 300+k a year. Every other competitor, anywhere else in the world, pays less than half, for same or better safety/punctuality.