For a long time, majors have sort of encouraged passengers to think of low costs as some atrocious and painful experience which would make travel an ordeal whilst travelling with them would be a pleasure. I think some still seem to share this view but I think it's fair to say that most of us who use low costs with some regularity have an entirely different take.

Since the start of the year, I've flown on U2, FR, W9 and DY as I tend to do every year. I've also flown plenty of majors on short haul Y including BA, AF, OS, IB, KL, SN, etc and I have to say that of those, only AF and to an extent KL and Cityflyer (less so since they downgraded the banding of my main route!) actually make the experience genuinely different apart from one major difference which is that a standard cabin suitcase is still included with all of the above.

I used to avoid FR and still prefer not to use them as I don't really like them, but truth be told, most flights with them are in fact completely eventless and professional.

W9 was also much of an ULC to start with but have also upped their game and I have to say that in recent flights with them, if I book a standard cabin bag, which comes with priority boarding and advance seat reservation except the first four rows and exits, it's actually a rather enjoyable experience. They are much less good than U2 at enforcing priority boarding (as described above) as in if you are in priority but arrive after that group has been 2officially" boarded you are stuck in the regular queue, but since most of the flight doesn't have a right to overhead space anyway frankly that makes little diference.

DY used to be great and one of my favourite airlines to fly short haul, and they have now become more average. Long gone are the days when you could change your seat for free at the airport even on low fares, of the great DY magazine, etc. Having said that, they do offer you 15 minutes of full high speed internet for any device, so if you have a phone and a laptop or tablet that is already 30 minutes which is not bad a start.

U2 I do like too. To me they feel like the most "professional" and well oiled of the low cost. What I dislike is that now the up-pay to get a cabin suitcase and the priority boarding and seating has become really expensive, often more than the cost of the ticket itself, but of course, if you do use that often, it makes the said card a very good option at the discounted rate.