Hello ManxMan11 - I genuinely hope that you see improvements on that route because as you said it was more convenient to you. With regards to the unfriendly flybe crew, it was cabin crew the senior attendant was plainly miserable and hardly welcoming. She almost seemed put out to be doing what she was doing.. like you say everyone can have an off day, but first impressions mean a lot. That said, it's something that can happen on every single airline so nothing against Flybe, like I say the return flight was just fine, very highly rated in my book! (for what that's worth!)
IOMSpotter - you raise an interesting point, but why would Aer Arann continue to invest in their brand now, i.e. sales and marketing etc if they were going to ditch it? Aer Lingus have no financial input into EI Regional. If RE was to just become EI Regional ala CityJet/ Air France, there would be a considerable cost involved in a full rebrand.