Most of my friends think I'm a bit obsessed about seat assignment and really don't care especially on a short flight. For them, the only factor in deciding which airline to fly is cost and departure time. They are as happy on EZ as on BA.
Some of my colleagues who fly regularly to the US in J don't bother to check seat assignments until OLCI. They only use OLCI in case they are running late and want to make sure they get on the flight before airport check in closes.