"Low cost" is not a corollary of "low fares" or "cut price". Make no mistake about this. DJ is patently low cost, low fares. On the other hand, Australian makes no bones about being 'low cost' but 'full service'. Is it not impossible to offer full service and low fares?
Australian gets around this by being ostensibly 'low cost', but only for some of their people. Just ask the pilots (all ex QF mainline) if they have suffered any erosion of terms and conditions. The answer would be a resounding "NO", so who is being screwed relative to their counterparts in mainline? It can't be all smoke and mirrrors for this economic miracle. The world eventually catches up with anything not the genuine article. If the comments reported in Crikey.com.au at the start of this discussion are true, one has to ask if Australian will be with us for long?