Mob,
How much of your excellent point above could also apply to the way some of them treat their customers?
Don't get me wrong, many no frills airlines have very good punctuality records, but Southwest's attitude is still very much of the caring, sharing company you talk about. Ryanair might keep telling us they have the least delays, the fewest lost bags, the fewest complaints (aided my making such complaints very hard to make), etc - but their attitude when things do go wrong is still - f**k off, you only paid 99p, what do you expect.
Now I don't expect to see JF using the f* word in public (come to think of it, what would happen to Ryanair employees who told customers to f*** off - instant dismissal, or promotion to the boardroom?), but I have heard of plenty of cases where Flybe too have not responded to delays in the most sympathetic manner.
An apology, an announcement, a smile etc - all cost nothing, but go a long way towards keeping the punters happy, even if everything is going t*ts up.