Then I must be supremely unlucky. i would not have gone to the effort of posting this if I had thought its a one off.
Someone else commented about the class you travel and the level of rudeness, I have certainly notice the further you go back the worse it becomes.
I too have sought to travel with other airlines and the experience has been much better - as i said, Virgin being by far the best. The age of their cc seems much lower and they genuinely seem to enjoy their jobs.