Possibly depends on where you're flying to/from in the UK (And Ireland I guess), but Aer Lingus are regularly competively priced against the Ryanair flights, Easyjet also works if you're flying into Belfast.
I would take issue with this. The service with Ryanair is awful. I have never experienced rudeness from cabin crew of other airlines like I have of Ryanair.
I've flown with them nearly fortnightly for the past two years and never had an issue with them. I guess I don't often have much cause to interact with the staff.
I've had an issue every single time - usually on the return route to Dublin funnily enough. Could be because I'm not flying so frequently alright, in a non-business frame of mind ... always more things to go wrong for a holiday traveler.