Simon Calder: It's the 'world's worst airline'. And I love it

From all the negative publicity that Ryanair has received this summer, you could be forgiven for assuming that it is the world's worst airline.

But Ryanair is, in fact, one of the best in terms of the things that matter to people: charging a reasonable fare, keeping roughly to schedule and delivering its passengers alive.

The world's very best airline is the US carrier Southwest, which has flown 12 million missions without a fatal accident. The city where President Kennedy was shot was where Michael O'Leary of Ryanair headed in 1990 to try to revive the ailing airline. Southwest's headquarters is at Love Field in Dallas, Texas, where JFK touched down for the last time. O'Leary was an accountant-turned-airline executive when he flew in on a mission that turned the airline around.

"We're imitating Southwest," said O'Leary, now Ryanair's chief executive, "selling at the lowest possible price to the maximum number of people." Yet Southwest's passengers would shudder to lose the perks they currently enjoy: free coffee and orange juice, seamless flight transfers and a frequent-flyer scheme, all of which Ryanair has cut in its corporate obsession with driving down costs. Because it believes passengers are obsessed with low fares, the airline has cut almost every element of customer care from its offering, making that £8 in pure profit per passenger either despite, or because of, its thriftiness.

Profitability conventionally correlates to a degree of customer satisfaction, yet the Irish airline that nearly died achieves the feat of infuriating some of its passengers while still getting their repeat business. I know this because I am one of those just-satisfied-enough-to-come-back-for-more customers. Before clicking on the "purchase" button, I remind myself that I am buying a piece of transport that is just a commodity ­ and also making a wager. If a delay occurs at the airport, Ryanair will take no responsibility for providing food or accommodation, nor for the consequences of the hold-up. I know there is no point in writing to complain, because I have met the customer service department. It ­ or rather she ­ is a very pleasant woman called Siobhan O'Neill. She spends her days at Dublin airport politely responding to complaints with the same letter, which amounts to, "sorry you had a problem, but if you read our rules you'll see you're not entitled to anything. Try your travel insurance instead".

People are starting to comprehend that one of the frills that Ryanair has cut is customer service. You want to be looked after? Choose another carrier, if you prefer ­ but bear in mind that Siobhan has right, or at least the law, on her side. International air travel is governed by the 1929 Warsaw Convention, which broadly says that the airlines can do what they like. The Montreal Convention, which is supposed to replace the antiquated treaty and give travellers more rights, was agreed three years ago, but is still a long way from coming into effect because 50 signatory nations ­ and the EU ­ have not ratified it.

Europe's biggest aviation success story is now sufficiently self-confident to fly a Boeing 737 into Germany bearing the slogan "Auf Wiedersehen, Lufthansa", to annoy the national carrier. Competition is driving fares down. It costs about half as much to fly to many European destinations as it did five years ago. But it is also forcing standards lower.

The newest entrant, MyTravelLite, has photocopied Ryanair's service levels for its new network, based in Birmingham, which begins on 1 October. If a flight is delayed or cancelled, no meal vouchers or hotel beds will be provided. With boarding in batches of 60 rather than pre-assigned seats, passengers will have to get used to what the new airline describes as "free seating", but detractors call a stampede. Through check-in is not an option. Passengers from Belfast hoping to connect at Birmingham to reach Alicante will find this impossible to achieve in one day, even though the same aircraft is used; passengers are obliged to check in again, which takes at least 90 minutes. "No refunds or compensation can be paid in respect of missed flight connections," warns the airline. In the new low-cost world of aviation, you can eat and drink as much as you like ­ but you will pay for it.