I'm a long time lurker but never felt the need to join and post. However, after reading your post mik3bravo I decided to so I could clear a few things up.
I live in Southend and use the airport wherever possible. My experiences have been almost universally positive. I would like to stress that I don't know you, nothing I say is personal and I won't be posting back and forth as it will turn into an argument, which nobody is interested in. I just wanted to offer my point of view on something which inevitably won't be appreciated as there are some direct opposites to your own. That's nothing against you, it's just nature and precisely how I am likely to interpret your responses to me, hence why I won't be replying back and forth.
I was also on the flight from Dublin to Southend on Sunday 3rd, 20:25 - 21:40. The flight was indeed delayed but it was not down to Flybe issues earlier in the day as you say. The captain spoke to the cabin in Dublin to say that we were delayed due to an unexpected piece of hold luggage that they were awaiting some last minute paperwork for. We were also refuelling and were told not to put our seatbelts on whilst boarding. I do not blame SEN or Flybe for this.
The delay in Southend is very close to what you said. The captain said he had been informed that we were not allowed to disembark yet as some European regulation (I forget which he said) prevented two planes side by side from disembarking at the same time. If that is indeed true, as the captain said, then I again do not blame SEN or Flybe as they are just following rules. I am happy to be proved wrong if that is incorrect.
If you were at the front of the plane then I was only a few rows behind you. The mood in the cabin did not seem strained at all. In fact, quite the opposite. Everyone remotely near me was in great spirits, mostly because of the cabin crew gentleman whose comment after the slightly heavy landing was inadvertently hilarious and whose follow up comment was equally funny.
I can't comment on whether the captain and ground personnel engaged in conversation, nor on the checked luggage as I didn't have any, but my experience on the same flight was completely different to your one and the only corners I experienced being cut were time made up in the air.