FabSwingers.com > Forums > The Lounge > Spare a thought for Michael O'Leary, Chief Executive of Ryanair
Spare a thought for Michael O'Leary, Chief Executive of Ryanair
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"Arriving in a hotel in Dublin, he went to the bar and asked for a pint of draught Guinness. The barman nodded and said, "That will be one Euro please, Mr. O'Leary." Somewhat taken aback, O'Leary replied, "That's very cheap," and handed over his money. "Well, we try to stay ahead of the competition", said the barman. "And we are serving free pints every Wednesday evening from 6 until 8. We have the cheapest beer in Ireland" "That is remarkable value" Michael comments "I see you don't seem to have a glass, so you'll probably need one of ours. That will be 3 euro please." O'Leary scowled, but paid up. He took his drink and walked towards a seat. "Ah, you want to sit down?" said the barman. "That'll be an extra 2 euro. - You could have pre-book the seat, and it would have only cost you a Euro." "I think you may to be too big for the seat sir, can I ask you to sit in this frame please" Michael attempts to sit down but the frame is too small and when he can't squeeze in he complains "Nobody would fit in that little frame". "I'm afraid if you can't fit in the frame you'll have to pay an extra surcharge of €4.00 for your seat sir" O'Leary swore to himself, but paid up. "I see that you have brought your laptop with you" added the barman. "And since that wasn't pre-booked either, that will be another 3 euro." O'Leary was so annoyed that he walked back to the bar, slammed his drink on the counter, and yelled, "This is ridiculous, I want to speak to the manager". "Ah, I see you want to use the counter," says the barman, "that will be 2 euro please." O'Leary's face was red with rage. "Do you know who I am?" "Of course I do Mr. O'Leary," "I've had enough, What sort of Hotel is this? I come in for a quiet drink and you treat me like this. I insist on speaking to a manager!" "Here is his E mail address, or if you wish, you can contact him between 9 and 9.10 every morning, Monday to Tuesday at this free phone number. Calls are free, until they are answered, then there is a talking charge of only 10 cent per second" "I will never use this bar again" "OK sir, but remember, we are the only hotel in Ireland selling pints for one Euro". HAPPY CHRISTMAS "Love it | |||
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"Like him or loathe him, he has managed to achieve a £398 million quarterly profit (pre-tax) in the 3 months up to September 2011. Set against a background of airlines worldwide struggling to turn any profit at the moment, whilst many might not appreciate his business model it does work commercially. Still £110 to change a name can never be justified as the ticket with the original name was not activated and considering I had to change it and later print the ticket there is absolutey no cost to Ryanair and therefore it is just a huge fucking rip off. And £110 is now Ryanairs standard charge for a name change except where the ticket has become more expensive eg original ticket for flight has gone from £30 to ££200 then the cost is £200 but surprisingly enough it doesnt work the other way if the cost of the ticket has dropped Ryanair also concentrate on markets that most legacy carriers would avoid or run via their code sharing agreements with local carriers - thus involving a change of plane and extended journey times not to mention additional costs. For example, I have used Ryanair quite a few times to visit Porto. From the NW of the UK they provide the only direct non-stop service (albeit seasonal). Tickets (even with baggage) can be bought for less than £100 and flight times are just over 2 hours. You can get there via Brussels, Frankfurt, London, Zurich and Lisbon but with tickets generally at £170 plus and flight times including transfers of up to 10 hours, there is really no comparison. I do feel however that what the business model does lack is a clearer costing mechanism, but this is not unique to Ryanair. Most low cost carriers, Easyjet, Jet2, BMiBaby, FlyBe, Monarch scheduled to name but a few - all employ a similar seat + cost strategy." | |||
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"Like him or loathe him, he has managed to achieve a £398 million quarterly profit (pre-tax) in the 3 months up to September 2011. Set against a background of airlines worldwide struggling to turn any profit at the moment, whilst many might not appreciate his business model it does work commercially. Still £110 to change a name can never be justified as the ticket with the original name was not activated and considering I had to change it and later print the ticket there is absolutey no cost to Ryanair and therefore it is just a huge fucking rip off. And £110 is now Ryanairs standard charge for a name change except where the ticket has become more expensive eg original ticket for flight has gone from £30 to ££200 then the cost is £200 but surprisingly enough it doesnt work the other way if the cost of the ticket has dropped Ryanair also concentrate on markets that most legacy carriers would avoid or run via their code sharing agreements with local carriers - thus involving a change of plane and extended journey times not to mention additional costs. For example, I have used Ryanair quite a few times to visit Porto. From the NW of the UK they provide the only direct non-stop service (albeit seasonal). Tickets (even with baggage) can be bought for less than £100 and flight times are just over 2 hours. You can get there via Brussels, Frankfurt, London, Zurich and Lisbon but with tickets generally at £170 plus and flight times including transfers of up to 10 hours, there is really no comparison. I do feel however that what the business model does lack is a clearer costing mechanism, but this is not unique to Ryanair. Most low cost carriers, Easyjet, Jet2, BMiBaby, FlyBe, Monarch scheduled to name but a few - all employ a similar seat + cost strategy." Whilst I understand your frustration, don't be fooled into thinking that the 'name change' issue is one that is unique to Ryanair and to be honest if you had bought the cheapest available tickets on say BA, BMI or Virgin a name change simply wouldnt have been possible. You would have forfeited the ticket outright and would have needed to a buy a new 1 in the name of the passenger travelling. In general, all flight tickets come with conditions, the cheaper they are, the more conditions they have and many of the legacy carriers economy tickets are simply not changeable at all. Also consider that most airlines generate the majority of their revenue by selling their premium product ie business or first class seating. They make more off selling say 30 business class seats than they do selling 200 economy seats. The airlines know that and their premium passengers are the ones they 'protect' The LCC's (low cost carriers) dont have the benefit of a premium product so need to improve yields by selling products such as priority boarding, extra leg room seating and charging for in flight snacks and beverages. Don't believe by this I am defending what airlines do to make an extra buck because I don't. I am just pointing out what is a stark reality of modern day air travel and one that the average lesiure traveller doesn't fully understand. | |||
"wow... does porto actually mean porto.... that would be a first! the only time I travelled with them to "brussels" it was actually chareloi which was about 50 miles away...... never making that mistake again... penny pinching tightwads...." no second airport (or old military bases) in porto, so no choice really
best thing is to the leg work upfront
for example, when i was in milan, ryanair fly to bergamo whereas easyjet actually fly to both linate and malpensa - which are actually somewhere near !
more expensive flights but closer to town
then u have to make your own mind up as to the trade off of cost vs convenience | |||
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 However, the flight left at 4.30pm and went to Prestwick which is a good hour away from Glasgow by train, meaning that by the time I`d got to the hotel, changed, got something to eat etc. the event I was going to would have been half way through!  I also worked out the transfers and having to stay an extra night at the hotel, it was so much cheaper to go by train via London! And as long as I got an early train, I could be in Glasgow just after midday and have time for a bit of shopping as well! | |||
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"I would dearly love to be that barman serving Mr. O'Leary. Can't stand the man with his penny pinching ways. He obv doesn't realise that customers being the lifeblood of his business. "I thought you championed people who have made a great success of themselves? That's the Tory way Wishy....you must be slipping, cracks appearing in your love affair with the Blues? | |||
"I would dearly love to be that barman serving Mr. O'Leary. Can't stand the man with his penny pinching ways. He obv doesn't realise that customers being the lifeblood of his business.
I thought you championed people who have made a great success of themselves?
That's the Tory way Wishy....you must be slipping, cracks appearing in your love affair with the Blues?
"Lol Jane oh sweet irony. Wishy a secret Trotskyite??? Say it aint so!! lol Repeat after me Wishy, "Greed is good. Greed is right. Greed works." "If you want a friend get a dog." Can't remember the other ones | |||
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"well we have booked with mr o,leary to go to lanzerote in january ,flights advertised at £115.00 return each we booked the seats flight one bag in the hold etc and the total was almost 400 quid rip off or what " I'd never use ryanair for that reason alone, the price advertised is never the price you pay  | |||
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"well we have booked with mr o,leary to go to lanzerote in january ,flights advertised at £115.00 return each we booked the seats flight one bag in the hold etc and the total was almost 400 quid rip off or what " if you felt you were ripped off, then why did you book ? some simple maths bags = extra weight = extra fuel = extra cost bags = extra handling = extra cost bags = extra security = extra cost planes are not making money when they are parked up on the ground baggage handling means planes spend longer on the ground and hence aren't as 'productive' so take less shoes  | |||
