Quite right Pax Vobiscum, there are a lot of variables, the airline itself is just one of many. In my opinion, the minimal differences between service levels here and there are not sufficient to alter my decision making process. I will go with the best value proposition, which is a mixture of total cost and total travel time from door to door. Seat pitch, airline quality food, and even a vague promise of putting me up in a hotel on the rare occasion things go wrong does not matter to me.
Short haul airlines in Europe are equivalent (which means being essentially equal with all things considered). You would pay more for BA, I wouldn't.
To bore you further, most of my short haul flights in the past 12 months have been on Easyjet, a few on Ryanair, and none on BA. My most recent was on SAS. That's not because I don't like BA, it's because BA never came out of my sieve as the best value proposition. Had they done so, I would have given them my money.
FR and BA compete head to head on LGW-DUB. Once you add up all the hidden charges levied by both airlines, the cheapest FR fare is approx 50% of the cheapest BA fare. FR have better redemption rules. The most expensive FR fare is about 10% more than the most expensive economy BA fare, and BA have better redemption rules. That shouldn't suprise anybody. But, more interestingly to me, the BA club fare is only 20% more than the most expensive FR fare. So would you pay that extra £60 to fly BA club as opposed to FR economy?
Never fall in love with a stock or an airline.