That's not a coincidence though. They're responsible for closures of a good number of competing flights from destinations that are not big enough to sustain multiple large carriers at different price/quality levels. Thus everybody gets stuck with Ryanair-level service, even if you'd be willing to pay more for more humane treatment.

Luckily, a number of regional players have started to adopt to this in recent years by replacing fleets with smaller planes to offer more flexibility.

Is that why they don't have the seat pocket? I always wondered about that. I'm the type of person who travels with a bottle of water and a kindle and not having mesh is one of the most annoying parts of flying with them