Several people have sent me this quote from Michael O’Leary, head of Ryanair.
You have to wonder how they could let a fellow like this run an airline who doesn’t understand the difference between noise and trends! Question: Would you let someone guide your investment portfolio who draws more inspiration from the day-to-day jitter in stock prices than the long-term trends? Probably not!
Time for another Guinness!
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You get the impression that when his aircraft are grounded for safety reasons (volcanoes, terrorism etc), you wonder if he actually cares about his passengers. He immediately appears on TV news, ranting about the injustice of nature stopping him flying his aircraft.
Well spotted ‘The Ville’. Its strange all round.
Great quote at the time:
“Personally, I wouldn’t trust ‘O’Really’ to tell me the price of a seat on his own airline, but to be fair his position [on climate change] does have the support of such intellectual heavyweights as Nick Griffin, Sarah Palin and George W Bush,” Joss Garman (Greenpeace)
Here in Ireland, I got involved in a prolonged Internet spat over O’Leary’s remarks. My best argument was that in the property boom we listened to developers talk up the economy, now we are going to fall over ourselves because another “great man” has deliverd an opinion on a subject about which he knows nothing.
As for Ryanair, it is very popular soley for its cheapness. I look upon it as a flying bus service – you are treated like cattle, and dropped miles from where you want to go (e.g. your flight to Brussels might land you in Charleroi where the ariport charges are less, or your flight to Paris take you to Beauvais). But people grit their teeth and bear it for the prices. The “customer service” is just a little short of concentration camp standard. I would not advise anyone not to use Ryanair, just don’t have high expectations, turn up in good time and don’t expect a quick refund and apology if something goes wrong!