Chalk hill, can I ask why you chose to fly with KQ, rather than BA who operate the same route? If you chose KQ because it is a few pounds cheaper, you now know why...
BA is one of (if not the most) efficiently run airlines in the world, operating in a clean and transparent regulatory environment where corruption is virtually non-existent. KQ is at the other end of the scale, operating in a badly administered country where corruption, backhanders and nepotism are rampant, all of which drives up costs. Quite obviously, if KQ are able to price slightly below BA, they have to claw this back somewhere. In this case, you have seen that they don't think it economically worthwhile to give their pilots LVP training to operate to northern Europe. I expect they make a lot of other economies such as not having standby crews or aircraft to cover for sick aircrew or tech issues.
The real test of a good airline is not just its safety record, but also how well it is able to cope when things go wrong.