For regular Ppruners, this topic comes round every so often and usually ends up as a "Slag British Airways off!" posting.
Whether you enjoy your flight or not is partly within the airline's control, and partly not!
1. Crew behaviour - (a) Due to the increase in "air-rage" incdents, the attempted cockpit storming of our LGW-NBO service and 09/11, both ground staff and air crew have to be alert to the actions of our travellers. Sometimes, this wariness may be viewed by the customer as "aloofness".
(b) All airlines have good crew members and bad. Sometimes, there are personality clashes between crew members and, although professionalism should not allow minor disagreements to interfere with cabin service, sometimes it does!
(c) There ain't no polite way to refuse an upgrade request (and at least 90% of our passengers ask for one). However one answers the "U" question, the customer is bound to feel a little rebuffed and this rejection can get the flight off to a bad start!
2. Passenger behaviour - Being strapped into a seat, only a few inches from a complete stranger, is an unnerving experience. When said stranger has some annoying habits, this minor source of irritation takes on major importance. If the last seats available happen to be the centre ones, you're in a negative frame of mind even before pushback!
At the end of the day, we get just as many compliments as we do brickbats! The "Bearded One's" airline does have the edge on us with IFE - but as personal DVD players are now available at less than £100, this will become of less importance in a year or two - but overall the two airlines are very similar.
Follow your instinct and let the fare decide!