Canned friendliness is, IMO, worse than brusque professionalism.
AirTran (now part of Southwest) used to be really nice.
I've had the complete opposite experience. I used to frequently fly southwest between Denver and PDX, and the flight crew were chill AF. You can almost guarantee a free drink or two on a southwest flight if you ask nicely -- I can't say the same about any other domestic American airline.