Torque tonight does have a point though. What i sometimes wonder about though is how he (and others) are somewhat triumphant at the fact that they didn't buy anything onboard. Of course, if they didn't want anything then that is fine, after all some of BA's most loyal customers have little more than a glass of water and a tomato juice. However,I guess some people won't buy anything on principle but not sure why.
It would surprise many to know that despite being a successful carrier, Easyjet and others like it make very little profit per seat which is why the model demands hight load factors. By little profit per seat I mean less than a packet of cigarettes. Hence sales are important and perhaps demonstrates just how little we pay for our fares these days.
The onboard sales are not uncommon to many passengers and they weren't exactly pioneered by the LCC's. Of course, for many the LCC was their first experience of scheduled airline service and were used to charter where bar sales, funcards, duty/tax free were all very much the aim of the game.
But remember, many of the LCC flights are pretty short hops where food and drink isn't essential and so if you don't want to eat or drink onboard and can pack wisely then you can make even more savings. I still don't subscribe to the notion that with a bag and the cost of a wine and sandwich onboard takes the cost up on a par with legacy carriers.....most of the time.
Many LCC routes also don't have legacy competition and would probably never see legacy service and this is what many forget. There are many city routes where LCC's are the only option and alot of Europeans still can't get their head around connecting on a short haul basis. As a consequence the LCC's grow their share.
Certainly not a LCC V's Legacy argument as I've experienced both as crew but just my 2 pence worth...again