Ryanair genteely Bítchslaps Aer Lingus

The_Minister

Basically, the Irish Times published an article about Aer Lingus's passanger numbers rising 8%.

Ryanair responded:

Madam, – I am contacting you in relation to the large article which appeared in your business section (“Aer Lingus passenger numbers rise 8.2 per cent”, August 11th). There was no reference to Ryanair’s passenger numbers for July, which reported growth of 19 per cent to over 6.7 million passengers.

Ryanair, Europe’s largest airline, is one of only a few indigenous companies to lead its sector in Europe and it is worrying that our July passenger numbers, which were six times those of Aer Lingus and detailed our remarkable and newsworthy July growth, were overlooked by The Irish Times.

While I do not expect any editorial favour to be shown to Ryanair I request that our good news stories be given the same consideration and space in your business pages as those of other leading Irish companies or small regional airlines such as Aer Lingus. – Yours, etc,

STEPHEN McNAMARA,

Head of Communications,

Ryanair,

Dublin Airport,

Co Dublin.


I had a good laugh at the cheekiness of that, you've gotta love Ryanair's sense of humour.

mawk

thats pretty frigin cheeky.

JIZZLORD

fair play to ryanair

they did it for teh lulz!!!!!!!1111111!

poisonated

As much as I hate ryanair and feel that aerlingus can quite often be a very similar price.Aer lingus is much more comfortable also.As much as I hate ryanair,I have to give them credit.That was a very clever publicity stunt.Fair play.

anonymous_joe

In fairness, most of the recent spats with Aer Lingus have been down to the fact that O'Leary et al wanted to distract most of us from some pretty performances fiscally from the boys in blue. In fact, Aer Lingus last year were much more successful than Ryanair.

Sure most of it seems to come down to the fact that Michael O'Leary is still bitter about how Aer Lingus treated him many moons ago.

Tar.Aldarion

JIZZLORD wrote: »

fair play to ryanair

they did it for teh lulz!!!!!!!1111111!

So did your parents.


Hehe, liked his little quip.

marco_polo

anonymous_joe wrote: »

In fairness, most of the recent spats with Aer Lingus have been down to the fact that O'Leary et al wanted to distract most of us from some pretty performances fiscally from the boys in blue. In fact, Aer Lingus last year were much more successful than Ryanair.

Sure most of it seems to come down to the fact that Michael O'Leary is still bitter about how Aer Lingus treated him many moons ago.

Would have posted a profit because they had to write off 220m due on their Aer Lingus shares

Overheal

Anytime I think of Aer Lingus - I have this scarred image of this snooty flight attendant I once had. There was nothing wrong with her. On any other day, she might have been pleasant and quite attractive tbph. But when I asked for a bit of water, she had the dullest, filthiest look on her face, as if she reviled her job and everyone on board.

Oh if only she saw the Recession looming, she might have taken more stock :pac:

AnonoBoy

"How does one genteely bitchslap someone?" Anonoboy asked before he opened the thread.

"Ah," he thought after reading the post, "That is how one does it."

Then I realised I was talking about myself in the 3rd person and shuddered.

Dyr

Do ryanair fly to america? Regional me arse, O'Leary and his cronies can go and die in a chip pan fire.

General Zod

marco_polo wrote: »

Would have posted a profit because they had to write off 220m due on their Aer Lingus shares

and would have posted a bigger prifit if O'Leary didn't lock Ryanair into $124 a barrel at the peak of the oil trading.

Capt'n Midnight

"small regional airlines such as Aer Lingus" :rolleyes:

Great coming from a company with no long haul, and no way to book connecting flights or baggage transfer to final destination.


Ryanair like publicity so much they don't mind getting taken to court for liable. And it wouldn't be the first time either.

Overblood

Seems like some people here don't get the joke.

imp

They also send the Irish Times angry letters anytime something negative is written about them:

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/features/2009/0814/1224252542773.html

Must say I like the fact that while on the letters page he's giving out about not being mentioned when air travel is talked about, here he's giving out about being mentioned when air travel is talked about...

Poor Uncle Tom

Overheal wrote: »

Anytime I think of Aer Lingus - I have this scarred image of this snooty flight attendant I once had. There was nothing wrong with her. On any other day, she might have been pleasant and quite attractive tbph. But when I asked for a bit of water, she had the dullest, filthiest look on her face, as if she reviled her job and everyone on board.

Oh if only she saw the Recession looming, she might have taken more stock :pac:

Poor attendant, you had a cheek, do you know how hard it is to get solid water on a plane?

Overheal

Poor Uncle Tom wrote: »

Poor attendant, you had a cheek, do you know how hard it is to get solid water on a plane?

Perhaps if you had asked for ice...

narwog81

im gonna just come out with it............i love ryanair.

i fly often and cheaply, what more could i ask for? just have your **** together and its hassle free. i'd say i've been on at least 50 ryanair flights and have never had a problem.

FatBeard

narwog81 wrote: »

im gonna just come out with it............i love ryanair.

i fly often and cheaply, what more could i ask for? just have your **** together and its hassle free. i'd say i've been on at least 50 ryanair flights and have never had a problem.

Ditto, this year alone, Brussels for 17 return, Paris 8 euro return and a flight to Bergamo for 43 (At the height of snowboarding season) all after taxes, booking fees and checkin costs. The last one infact with checkin baggage. I have flow home to Kerry for 35 quid which is cheaper than the cost of petrol for my car, the train and probably the bus. The amount of cheap holidays I have gotten off em is unbelievable and never once have I had a problem. I'd actually say for me they are by far the best airline that I have flown with based on sheer value for money.

Poor Uncle Tom

Overheal wrote: »

Perhaps if you had asked for ice...

ice is frozen water, a bit of water comes from solid water, a different animal altogether, chief.

Jim236

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

"small regional airlines such as Aer Lingus" :rolleyes:

Great coming from a company with no long haul, and no way to book connecting flights or baggage transfer to final destination.

As opposed to Aer Lingus who have slashed their long-haul network...

Meanwhile Ryanair have just announced their 34th base, while Aer Lingus are still patting themselves on the back for opening their first base outisde of Ireland...

K4t

Overblood wrote: »

Seems like some people here don't get the joke.

I get it alright. But it's just not very funny.

rossie1977

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

"small regional airlines such as Aer Lingus" :rolleyes:

Great coming from a company with no long haul, and no way to book connecting flights or baggage transfer to final destination.

aer lingus have cut so much of their long haul over the past 9 months, they probably won't be flying outside of ireland come this time next year

dubai, san francisco, los angeles, Washington all gone, chicago cut back and gone from shannon, its not looking good

rhapsody!

Pwned.

Ryanair are way better than that scabby Aer Lingus crowd anyway.

minidazzler

Aer Lingus is the Queen of Irish Airlines,

Ryanair is king.

What does the King do to the Queen at night?

jumpguy

Jeez, Ryanair are touchy about their little share prices, aren't they? I'd nearly publish another front page article about the advantages (whether existant or not) of Aer Lingus over Ryanair and how Aer Lingus had better PR.

I wonder what Stevie would say to that.

anonymous_joe

marco_polo wrote: »

Would have posted a profit because they had to write off 220m due on their Aer Lingus shares

Great way to distract people from that is to try and buy Aer Lingus again. Hmmm. Wonder who tried that?

j1smithy

anonymous_joe wrote: »

Great way to distract people from that is to try and buy Aer Lingus again. Hmmm. Wonder who tried that?

I agree. This is just another of Ryanairs publicity stunts deflecting the real news. Ryanair should be happy Aer Lingus increased their passenger numbers, they part own them after all. Unless of course they had a more sinister agenda with the attempted buyout of Aer Lingus?

Delta Kilo

FatBeard wrote: »

Ditto, this year alone, Brussels for 17 return, Paris 8 euro return and a flight to Bergamo for 43 (At the height of snowboarding season) all after taxes, booking fees and checkin costs. The last one infact with checkin baggage. I have flow home to Kerry for 35 quid which is cheaper than the cost of petrol for my car, the train and probably the bus. The amount of cheap holidays I have gotten off em is unbelievable and never once have I had a problem. I'd actually say for me they are by far the best airline that I have flown with based on sheer value for money.

This is actually something that annoys me about people who travel by air. People are willing to pay €65 to go from Cork to Dublin on a train, yet the very same people start whinging when they have to pay more than €20 to go to the other end of Europe on a plane!

j1smithy

Delta Kilo wrote: »

This is actually something that annoys me about people who travel by air. People are willing to pay €65 to go from Cork to Dublin on a train, yet the very same people start whinging when they have to pay more than €20 to go to the other end of Europe on a plane!

I applaud anyone who can get such a low fare. Ryanairs average fare is roughly €50per person per way. TBH very few people can get a pair of flights for that price now. theres a check in charge of €5 each way, a departure tax of €10, €5 credit card fee each way, not to mention the Airport handling fee of about €25 each way (sometimes waived). So minimum cost of €30 I see there, €80 including airport fee. Thats before the fare (if any). Oh and don't forget to add bags!

Better than the old days... sure

But cheap??... yeah right

bigeasyeah

'Regional airline' Cheeky!
I still prefer to fly with Aer Lingus as they have the habit of landing within 10 miles of the destination printed on my ticket.

Easily_Irritated

When I think of Aer Lingus I think of ridiculously made up flight attendents who look like they've applied their make up with a make up gun:

http://www.afrobella.com/wp-content/afrobella%20images/makeupgun.jpg

Overheal

Poor Uncle Tom wrote: »

ice is frozen water, a bit of water comes from solid water, a different animal altogether, chief.

Googling Solid water redirects here

John Player

buy air lingus and eircom, u couldnt go wrong

rossie1977

j1smithy wrote: »

I applaud anyone who can get such a low fare. Ryanairs average fare is roughly €50per person per way. TBH very few people can get a pair of flights for that price now. theres a check in charge of €5 each way, a departure tax of €10, €5 credit card fee each way, not to mention the Airport handling fee of about €25 each way (sometimes waived). So minimum cost of €30 I see there, €80 including airport fee. Thats before the fare (if any). Oh and don't forget to add bags!

Better than the old days... sure

But cheap??... yeah right

* a credit card charge that can be eliminated by using entropay (i thought everyone knew about that at this stage http://www.askaboutmoney.com/showthread.php?t=111541)

* i have never paid baggage fees on ryanair, a 50cmX40cmX22cm bag is easily big enough for 5-6 days away and anyway security staff rarely bother with the size of bags you bring on unless they are huge, germany is the only place i have seen security check bag sizes

just back from norway myself, flew dublin to stansted, stansted to haugesund and oslo torp back to dublin a week later, total cost of ryanair flights €20, i have flights booked in september to budapest with ryanair for €17, if you book in advance and keep checking up on deals all the time you can get great bargins, of course if you leave it till the last minute ryanair is probably not your best bet

homerjay2005

j1smithy wrote: »

I applaud anyone who can get such a low fare. Ryanairs average fare is roughly €50per person per way. TBH very few people can get a pair of flights for that price now. theres a check in charge of €5 each way, a departure tax of €10, €5 credit card fee each way, not to mention the Airport handling fee of about €25 each way (sometimes waived). So minimum cost of €30 I see there, €80 including airport fee. Thats before the fare (if any). Oh and don't forget to add bags!

Better than the old days... sure

But cheap??... yeah right

i got 6 flights, all seperate bookings, 3 weeks ago, for 115euro, all in.

i booked another one last week for 22euro all in. Ryanair do lots of offers that actually work for me as i travel somewhere once a week.

SuperDude87

I fly religiously with Aer Lingus.........coz y'know I like to be treated like.......a person and not cattle?

Shame in this day and age that it's not standard but everything about Ryanair screams "BAD CUSTOMER SERVICE"

FatBeard

Delta Kilo wrote: »

This is actually something that annoys me about people who travel by air. People are willing to pay €65 to go from Cork to Dublin on a train, yet the very same people start whinging when they have to pay more than €20 to go to the other end of Europe on a plane!

Thats one hell of a sweeping statment. I like travelling by train, I would prefer it to flying. You can sit down, relax and read a book for the majority of you're trip. But when a company are charging more than 65 quid to go by train for a mode of transport that is almost 200 years old and should be far more efficient I feel it's just extortion. I'll pay up to 50 quid for a flight home, not because when it goes over 50 i "whinge" about it but because it's just cheaper and easier for me at that point to hop into my car and just drive.

I would reply to all the other responses to my original post. However people have already responded by highlighting with a Visa Electron you can bypass the booking fee and Ryanair are always running promotions that give you free checkin.

narwog81

SuperDude87 wrote: »

I fly religiously with Aer Lingus.........coz y'know I like to be treated like.......a person and not cattle?

Shame in this day and age that it's not standard but everything about Ryanair screams "BAD CUSTOMER SERVICE"

if i have to tolerate what people percieve being treated badly to get cheaper flights then i have no problem with that at all. in fact im flying to girona with ryanair in a few hours and even with the bus transfer to barcelona its still over €100 cheaper than flying direct with aer lingus.

an hour on the bus for an extra 100 quid in my pocket tonight in la ramblas, good deal in my mind!

Riverpineapple

I like both

JIZZLORD

Tar.Aldarion wrote: »

So did your parents.


Hehe, liked his little quip.

i'm going to poo on your corpse!

Poor Uncle Tom

Overheal wrote: »

Googling Solid water redirects here

well you're the one who ordered it, see post no. 8 :rolleyes:

partyatmygaff

Aer Lingus are a small international carrier, no way are they regional. Thats just cheeky coming from a company travelling primarily to regional airports, Aer Lingus travels to all major international airports like Schipol and Heathrow and Charles De Gaulle.
Not to mention Ryanair don't even own a single widebody jet, all they have is alot of 737s which are mostly short-medium haul.

They are slowly becoming one of the most expensive with all their fees.

SuperDude87

SuperDude87 wrote: »

I fly religiously with Aer Lingus.........coz y'know I like to be treated like.......a person and not cattle?

Shame in this day and age that it's not standard but everything about Ryanair screams "BAD CUSTOMER SERVICE"

cry me a river. i think ryanair is the only company people bltch about without even buying their products.

i'm going to edinburgh for 30quid return ina few weeks. fuk comfort, id sit on a cactus for the hour at that price.

it's a choice to use them or not, therefore your point is mute.