Facelookbovvered
I Don't dispute your claim, but i was surprised Monarch made the jump to Boeing given their current fleet of Airbus aircraft, i can only think that Boeing was holding non refundable deposit money from the now cancelled 787 order and that when that went back into the pot the numbers added up.
If you're going to spend USD3.1bn then surely the decision is going to come down to two things. First cost, and not just the up front price, but the operating costs. Second (but obviously not by much) the competing product's ability to perform the job required of them.
How it looks in your (the airlines) colour scheme is of no importance whatsoever - appreciate you haven't mentioned this flb.
As for your average bucket and spade passenger, these days they'd be hard pressed to know whether they were inside an Airbus or Boeing product. All they're interested in is price, price and then price of their ticket.