It's depressing that the public have been conditioned to accept the bottom of the barrel as the norm.
It's what's known (and has been for some time) as 'the invisible hand'.
To what extent does the price of a commodity play when you purchase something? Are you lucky enough to claim that it just doesn't matter? Or more to the point - what part does it play in the choices of most people?
It depends what you're buying, of course. For some, the destination is the journey, and the sullen-faced CC could pelt you with cow dung during a seven-hour delay and force you to listen to Peter Andre/Katie Price duets incessantly. But enough of BA
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When I was a starving student, I took the cheapest flights. What entitlement do I have to deny them the same option twenty years later? Can't poor people have fun too? If they are disappointed, e.g., getting stranded somewhere for 24 hours, that's fine - it happened to me as well. I feel sorry for impecunious families placed in this situation, and I'm grateful that my parents never took us anywhere without there being a Plan B.
So we turn to ethical considerations. Unless there is some sort of white-slaving operation going on, FR employees work for FR voluntarily - and, it seems, pay upfront for the privilege. Take a look at some of the politicians' interns who turned out nicely with a 1/1 from Oxbridge who earn the square root of naff all, or law graduates driving cabs. I don't pity people who take challenging and unrewarding jobs. It's the destination, not the journey.
I'd not fly FR purely because those days are behind me, and I like to have every thing done with a minimum of fuss. O'Leary has struck on a brilliant niche - the pimplies don't care because they'll be going on the lash, whereas fogies like I will have a staycation because the standards on the legacies are dropping.
SO
[0] yes, I was joking. What's an SLF thread without a go at BA?