I also am one who also despises Ryanair. I flew with them in 2005 when I was in Year11 at School on a Geography field trip to Rome. I went to Parrs Wood High School in Manchester and we got a coach down to EMA and flew with RYR to CIA. They were very moody and all of the cabin crew were foreign. The flight back a week later to EMA, I ordered a ham & cheese toasted ciabatta, after waiting over 15 minutes for it and with the in-flight meal service been complete...I asked if my ciabatta was ready...to which the man pretty much shouted "ITS COMING!"...very bad mannered.
Flew with Easyjet first time in 2006 when I was in the sixth form on a Geography field trip to Barcelona. Flew from LPL to BCN, very nice service, cabin crew were very polite. No problems what so ever. EasyJet crew all seem friendly and happy to chat. Flight back was fine, again no problems, very comfy and nice flight.
This summer I went to Tenerife on a lads holiday for a week with a few mates, flew from MAN to TFS on the 7am monday flight. Delayed on the ground for about 1hr 40 in the end because we were 640kg overweight and had to try and offload a few people, which a family agreed to do which got an applause from everyone. Crew were friendly throughout! Spoke with the Capt. and FO after the flight and they were fine to chat with. Flight coming back a week later was fine, no problems, arrived early, we were laughing at the cabin crew as during the safety briefing, the girl accidentally mistook the aircraft as an A380 to which we burst out laughing. Spoke to Captain and FO again after flight and they were very friendly.
EasyJet IMO is miles above Ryanair and they have far happier cabin crew and comfier seats and configuration. Plus the Airbus idle noises sound a lot better then the 738s
Easyjet staff are happy to chat to passengers and do exactly what the purpose of the flight for customers is..."sit back and enjoy the ride". With RYR, is seems rather impossible. Their move out of MAN just shows what a greedy airline (well the Management) they are. This is a great move for MAN, I think EZY will continue their slow expansion at MAN and don't be surprised to see Jet2 move aircraft over from LBA if RYR bully the airport management asking for free fares.