Well I flew into and out of DSA this weekend. On arrival UK Border personnel were friendly. I did notice a large sign saying no mobile phones so if you chose to ignore the orders of a Government Officer you deserve all you get. On return the security staff were all positive - despite the queue - a little longer than I would normally hope for. But with only one flight in a 3 hour block, I suppose you don't get cheap flights with Business class service. Additionally, the staff seemed very helpful towards the unfortunate folks booked on the EZY to BCN which had a major tech problem, providing regular updates. I take your points on the decor - it is a little dull and both airside and groundside tiolets had not been serviced for 5 hours and could have done with refreshing.
Regarding the economics of DSA, (my previous post asking for why it should be left to rot was deleted??) I would still maintain that had it been allowed to develop into an airport when the RAF moved out in 1995 we would now have a very busy airport in that they coukld have surfed the wave of the low cost expansion rather than being on the coat tails of it. However, it now has significantly more traffic than HUY and as LBA is now approaching capacity at peak hours there may be more scope for more expansion. Judging by the number of cars in the car park they are doing something right.