For people who fly only once or twice a year, price is everything. Those people who either fly more frequently, especally on the same route, or are interested in aviation, know there is more to it.
I have the choice of a direct EZY flight twice a week or a change in Europe several times a day, on a variety of airlines. When searching I discount the trips which take more than say nine hours as the direct flight is about five hours, and prefer to fly with Swiss which has larger planes, more space and IFE. The alternatives are legacy airlines whose planes are no more luxurious than EZY. But if Swiss is £600 each and the others are £350 it's a no brainer and if the EZY flight is £400 direct and the others £350 it is also obvious I use EZY.
However, if I need to fly on a day when there is no EZY flight, the choice is balance between trip time, price and comfort. I have in past spent about £20 more simply to arrive at 23:00 rather than 03:30 the next morning.