MrCoffee,
I spent a month line training with Jetstar on the B717, before they lost it
. I know it was only a month but that's all I have to judge on. I found their crews, tech & cabin, to be pleasant and professional. I found the standard to which they operated the aircraft to be professional.
I saw nothing to justify the plethora of comments on PPRuNe that because they're low cost, they're no good.
They did have an occasional bitch-n-moan about the company and how the company manages things, but then I've never met any employee group that didn't in my time in the workforce, and that started in 1974.
Overall, the folk I met in the month there were mostly happy with the job.