I agree fully with basically everything NM wrote in relation to this situation. He is very right about the pressure on pilots etc.
In addition to what he wrote, what I would like to add is that in Europe at least, it's pretty normal for low cost/IT carrier aircraft to be equipped with just as high a level of avionics and for their pilot to have the same level of training as those of legacy carriers. This makes economic sense, as schedule disruptions tend to cost them pretty heavily, due to tighter turnaround time, higher aircraft utilisation etc causing them to suffer more 'knock on' delays.
To me, she was definitely not mistreated. The media over there love LCC bashing, and I think it's just a part of it. I have read some genuinely awful stories on some LCC behaviours, but in this particular story, I think she was treated far better than how I would have expected myself to be treated on a LCC flight.
