Michael O Leary administers an ass whuppin'

RoundyMooney

Following the attempted hatchet job on Ryanair by Channel Four's "Dispatches" programme, MOL published the exchange of letters between Ryanair and the production company here.

Whatever else can be said about him, he has brought booze cruises and culture to the masses, even if a trip to say, Paris, starts with an extended bus transfer rather than a comfortable walk to the taxi rank outside Charles De Gaulle. Ryanair does exactly what it says on the tin, and despite some discontent among airline employees regarding the gradual erosion of terms and conditions, shortcuts regarding safety don't appear to be a factor, according to independent analysis.

Is Ryanair's ethos regarding air travel good or bad? I say good, in that it's opened up air travel to the masses, and encouraged its competitors to follow suit. I remember not so long ago, when a bloated, overstaffed, loss making (at the time) national carrier was charging almost £200 for a return ticket from Cork to Heathrow, and all you got was lukewarm coffee. I know how I'd rather travel.

mike65

Pity its polluting the skies to hell though...

Mike.

RoundyMooney

That's a fact. I can't see "hybrid synergy drive" engines hanging off the wings of a 737 or Airbus A319 anytime soon either.

Boeing Prius anyone?

smashey

I remember paying £250 for a return ticket from Heathrow to Dublin in the early 1990s. Ryanair have saved me so much over the years. Who cares if you don't get an inflight service on a 40 minute flight. I will happily take the 20 Euro flight and find my own seat.

jimmycrackcorm

I think it is so funny to see how hyped up people get actually expecting a glorified air travel for a €1 ticket.

As Smashey says - if at the time of £250 tickets to the uk, anyone had been asked to exchange that for cheap travel without all the benefits - who would question it.

I also couldn't get the thing about the passport check instead of just the boarding pass - after all the majority of flights I've been on have been boarding card only at the gate and your passport has been checked already so what does it matter.

All in all I think Ryanair easily survived this as most people aren't as gullible as C4 would like to think.

faigs

Agreed, MOL may be a b****x to work for (and i know that for a fact) but he's a smart businessman. Had he not introduced low fares, we might be getting nice clean planes and good service in flight and out, but I'd rather save the money and just get to my destination with the lowest priced carrier available for the date. Thanks to MOL we have competition and cheap fares to chose from...its one area of travel we're not being ripped off in for once. You get what you pay for and if I get a fare to London cheaper than a taxi ride to my nearest town and back I'm happy.

Mossy Monk

although i had a run in with Ryanair before i have to say that they do offer what they advertise. cheap flights. anyone expecting extras should really fly with BA or someone like that

Sleepy

Just read through the correspondence and tbh it seems like Dispatches are just trying to cause trouble.