ff2 - as my nav instructor always said - apples with apples - airplanes are not hotels.
I'm not saying your experience was acceptable but your perception of the situation may have differed from someone else's. As I said before nobody is perfect and the crew may not have been on this occasion but, we all have bad days, and I am sure you wouldn't like to be judged on one of yours. That's why people may get defensive here.
£218 for 2? hmmmmm it costs that for a return train to London from where I used to live in the South West and I was lucky to get a seat. For your money, gravity was defied, and you, your wife(?), tons of metal and fuel, and nearly 100 other people were carried through the air at over 300kts at 25000 feet above the ground, safely - as I say apples with apples please. The fact that people think that is expensive for a flight it the very reason air travel is not what it used to be (and why some, who were about during Imperial Airways days, complain about today's air travel.) - I don't blame you - I blame Air South West. (Sorry pet peeve not really relevant).