I’m sorry that some of you felt defensive of the original question, with the need to respond with an attacking accusation of how I could be sitting somewhere where I could have known the condition of the packs (i.e. cockpit). I understand why as an employee you would be sensitive to the trend of condemning Ryanair’s style, and that was not my intent.
I believe I can conclude that the answer to my question is: there could be a variety of reasons that single pack operations could occur, and that it is not a company policy to operate in a single pack configuration as a method of cost savings.
Thank you to all who added other insight into this thread.