I do not entirely agree with this statement, although I do agree with your sentiments. I would say that FR believe that they can treat passengers poorly because they say the prices are low, and very low fares are available to a minority of passengers. As has been shown time and time again BA is often cheaper or not much more expensive than FR.

'We are a low cost airline' always seems to be the excuse but I do not believe it is valid.

FR seem to have much wider range of direct services to and from the UK regions than any full service carrier, so perhaps the choice is not really there. Carcassonne to Leeds (from 28 March 2010) anyone?