If the lo costs have had the effect to reduce fares for comparable routes/flights then all well and good (...excusing comments about green issues...) but the comparison is a bit disingenious - Ryanair fly from several light years distance outside Glasgow at Prestwick, and I suggest the real comparisons are with those carriers operating the same routes, not those that purport to offer the same.
The extra time and cost to get into Glasgow, say for any onward travel, negates the cheaper fare they might have available compared to say BA, but at least you're bang on with raising the point that if you do elect to go BA, you arrive at the destination you expect and at the fare you expect too. (I note Glasgow is just an example but the same could alsmost be said for arrival in London - or do you mean Luton, or somewhere in Essex...?)
There's far too much extra fees added to the lo costs too e.g with Ryanair - £6 for credit card booking (only apparent once booking is made online, not decribed prior to confirming); if you can't check in online you pay £3 per ticket for checking at the desks; also other carriers have come up with bag fees of you don't travel with only a g-string to change into - fine if its a day trip but not so hot for the holiday maker; included insurances - need to be removed or you pay for this cost on the ticket and so on. A £10 fare rapidly works out at £40. Just see the gripes on airlinequality.com
Be interesting to see the final costs of the £0.01p fares Ryanair are offering including all fees and taxes....once you accept the terms online.
Nothing wrong with making a profit, but a lack of transparancy in costing travel at the outset just is not acceptable - and the shameful noises from carriers bleating that they don't want to show the full costs including fees and taxes....
Open Skies might well have an upside for ex LHR travel to the US, but it might also have a downside of pushing some carriers out of business, a la Maxjet, if the fares can not stand up, and cheaper carriers can not offer the same number of flights - to suit the traveller, not the airline - as some of the larger airlines can do at the moment.
I gather its about a £100 per person minimum cost for the airlines per pax to carry each one across the Atlantic, and that can only go up if fuels increase in costs anyway, so bargain bucket fares for that route are unlikely except as promotions - remember the Electrolux ticket? - and I wonder if the knock on would be to bunp the short haul up to pay the way for the new long haul routes for those carriers interested in this as an option?