In the comments of the blog, I was asked how I replied to his email. I thought about a long reply, but settled on just thanking him for connecting with me and that I have corrected my blog. I was kind of hoping he would read the post I made and oh boy did he!
Here is his (unedited) email I received on Friday morning:
Hi David
While I contacted the Seattle pi I will not be keeping a line of communication open with your blog ’“ no disrespect but I simply don’t have the time (or resources) to correct the errors most bloggers come up with ’“ but as you said, you have never flown with Ryanair so perhaps you are unaware that:
1. They provide sub-par customer service (and are almost proud of it) ’“ Wrong. Ryanair has the best on-time record, the least lost bags and the fewest cancelations of any major European airline.
2. charge for everything ’“ Wrong. Ryanair allows passenger to avoid paying for any of the services that are factored into the cost of high fare tickets, the average fare with Ryanair (which includes a 25KG baggage allowance) is just €32 ’“ compared to the next cheapest airline at €60.
3. fly to smaller airports. Wrong. In some cases we do, but we also fly to many main airports (e.g. Berlin, Edinburgh, London and Madrid etc) and passengers, especially those who travel frequently realise that it is more comfortable and quicker to travel through smaller airports ’“ while it also allows for cheaper fares which passengers would walk over hot coals to get to.
4. but are one of the most popular airlines in the world ’“ Wrong (but almost correct). We are the world’s favourite airline per IATA statistics which show that Ryanair carried more international scheduled passengers than any other airline last year.
5. They charge customers to call their customer service hotline ’“ Wrong. We don’t have a customer service hotline; passengers can contact customer service in writing only.
6. and are well known for almost never giving refunds. Wrong. While our fights are non-refundable we do provide refunds in rare cases of weather related cancelation (per EU 261 legislation) and in cases where they are entitled to a refund of government taxes and charges. However, if a passenger is looking for a refund because their cat/dog/grandmother is sick they are not entitled to one, and won’t get one ’“ per the Terms and Conditions they agreed to.
7. Yet, they provide super low fares and passengers keep flying them. Correct ’“ almost, it should really say and an increasing number of passengers fly them ’“ Ryanair continues to grow thanks to our low fares while other airlines’ passenger numbers continue to collapse.
But I guess I can let you have that one – one out of seven ain’t bad ’“ for a blogger!
Ryanair does ’˜understand’ social media and that blogs are generally based on opinion (which is why we generally ignore them ’“ unless they appear somewhere like the Seattle PI). Far be it from me to preach on new media but like good journalists good blogs should be balanced and at least factual ’“ if a blogger wants to blog about something by all means go ahead but if people are going to take the time to read a blog they should be confident that the blogger at least knows the facts and matches those facts with the entertainment value a blog provides.
Finally, re ’œI have updated my blog, but in my defense, major news organizations were covering this, like the BBC for example.’ Ryanair was contacted by the BBC and provided a statement which was carried in the piece and explained the situation ’“ this however did not make it into your blog ’“ which is why we contacted the Seattle PI ’“ bloggers can not just take a story that entertains them and omit the facts ’“ as you clearly did in this case. Major news organisations provided balance, when you picked up the story from their sites you ignored that balance.
Regards
Stephen McNamara
Head of Communications
Ha! 1 out of 7 or about 14% right (according to Ryanair). Surprised I got the “Ryanair is one of the most popular airlines in the world” wrong. How about the most famous Irish airline in the US or at least on my blog? Now most of the rebuttals are questionable and I know McNamara is doing his PR job to put the positive spin on his airline.
Like I have said, I have never flown them before, so not sure how to respond to these. For those of you who have flown them, care to add your opinion on his email?
TUIfly's Boeing 737-800 (D-AHFM) with Haribo gummy bear livery
What’s sweeter than a livery with gummy bears on it? Not too much.
TUIfly is Germany’s third largest airline and is headquartered in Langenhagen, Germany. The airline was founded in January 2007 as a cooperation between Hapag-Lloyd Flug and Hapag-Lloyd Express. TUIfly flies both scheduled and charter flights. They run a fleet of about 40 Boeing 737, most of which are Boeing 737-800’s.
Haribo is a large candy producer who is also based in Germany. They are best known for making gummy and jelly sweets.
Dan Webb over at Things in the Sky asked today “What’s Wrong With This Southwest Ad?” and I found one of the two things off with it. Can you find both or even more?
For airline livery nerd, you can see the plane shown is an AirTran Boeing 717 (with logos and registration number hidden).
Finnair MD-11 (OH-LGB) taking off in the moon light
It is that time again where I have quite a few blogs I never got around to blogging and they aren’t really timely anymore. Instead of just hitting delete, I want to still share the stories with you folks. Here they are:
I love Ryanair. Personally I have never flown them, but I have absolute respect for what they are able to accomplish. They provide sub-par customer service (and are almost proud of it), charge for everything, fly to smaller airports, but are one of the most popular airlines in the world. They charge customers to call their customer service hotline and are well known for almost never giving refunds. Yet, they provide super low fares and passengers keep flying them. I talk over and over again how powerful this business model is and how someday it might come to the United States. Passengers complain about bad service and fees, but they keep dealing with it, as long as they get the cheapest fare. How can we hold Ryanair responsible if people are willing to pay? I can’t, but I sure can blog about their shenanigans.
Ryanair will announce crazy things and sit around while the world media talks about it and gives them free press. I know I am guilty of this as well, but they provide such great material. Trying to get a comment from them, especially as a blogger, is nearly impossible. I have tried to make contact with Ryanair on multiple occasions with no luck.
This is why I was so giddy to see an email from Stephen McNamara, Head of Communications for Ryanair, in my inbox this morning. Yes, it goes to insult my integrity as a blogger, but man oh man, it was a welcomed surprise. Ryanair was actually talking to me…something not many bloggers can say!
So where to start?
A while back I blogged about Ryanair ditching passengers at a wrong destination with no help. Looks like I might have been wrong and I for that. I stated that due to weather, the Ryanair flight was diverted to Fuerteventura and then took off leaving the passengers stranded. McNamara corrects me:
’œRyanair flight FR 6766 Bournemouth ’“ Lanzarote (17 Feb) diverted to Fuerteventura due to bad weather in Lanzarote. Ferries between the islands, which are used for the onward transportation of passengers in such cases, were also affected by high winds so passengers were provided with EU261 information which outlines their entitlement to provide receipted hotel expenses to Ryanair, for refund. Ryanair arranged ferries to carry affected Ryanair passengers to Lanzarote free of charge when ferries recommenced the following morning. Ryanair apologises to passengers for any inconvenience caused but can never put passenger convenience before passenger safety.’
No problem! I have recently heard from other sources that it seems there was one very unhappy passenger that turned this small story into Ryanair bashing. I have updated my blog, but in my defense, major news organizations were covering this, like the BBC for example.
Ok enough of the background information, let’s get to the fun parts of the blog. McNamara actually didn’t email me directly at first, but wrote to the Seattle Post Intelligencer, where my blog is syndicated. The syndication just pulls my RSS feed and they have no responsibility for my content, so passed the message on to me. In his first email McNamara states, “This blogger clearly likes to express his opinion without undertaking any research (to the detriment of professional bloggers who research their pieces and do not simply type the first stupid idea that comes into their head) I ask that this blog be removed.” Haha, that’s right, he said, “stupid idea,” man I love Ryanair. You know, writing about stupid and crazy ideas like charging for bathrooms, talking about “BJ’s” on flights, letting passengers smoke, making passengers stand to fly, and many more.
If I got this email from any other airline I would be horrified. I always try to keep positive when talking about airlines and have a professional relationships with the airlines I work with. Getting this from Ryanair is a total compliment in my mind. They are the elusive airline, that any blogger would love to have communication with. They are well known for brushing off bloggers as a waste of time. To know that McNamara is actually reading my blog and enough to write two emails responding to it… all I can say is, how awesome.
The Seattle PI, very professionally let McNamara know that they have no control over my content and since I am an independent blogger, he needs to write me directly. McNamara’s didn’t like that so much and wrote to both of us. His reply is so priceless, I just have to post the whole thing:
“Your answer is less than satisfactory and it is a damming indictment of the Seattlepi.com that you would allow clearly incorrect and biased information appear and remain on your site ’“ brushing this off as an issue for the publisher is simply rubbish ’“ it is on your site, you are the publisher.
If you were contacted by a reader over an article which contained racist or foul language for example, I am sure you would have the power to remove or edit the piece. Far from this simply being an issue for the independent publisher it is also your responsibility, as the site hosting the information. You are responsible for what appears on you site ’“ David simply writes his opinions, as he is entitled to do ’“ your site allows that opinion to be broadcast to the world.
I have cc’d this to David as instructed ’“ however this underlines how irresponsible blogging and irresponsible hosting of such blogs, which fail to look at facts but simply provide biased opinion, undermines the worth of all blogs ’“ to the detriment of those bloggers who display journalistic integrity and provide balance.
Regards
Stephen McNamara
Head of Communications”
Classic :). What is great is there is no comment about any of my other Ryanair posts or my Crazier Than Ryanair Medal, which I have plenty. I am hoping this means McNamara is open for me emailing him directly to “research” any future blogs I write about Ryanair — I am good with that.
