Hate is a big word and I hate using it!
Boarding our Ryanair flight from Liverpool to Cork I uttered the words I have uttered many times before to Brendan, my son “I hate Ryanair”
He took me up on it straight away “give it a rest, they are really good now, way different to before”
Sure enough the process felt different, the APP made it easy to manage our booking and the stampede for seats that used happen before when the boarding gate opened just wasn’t there now.
“Why do you still hate them” he asked?
I explained that I hated that Michael O’Leary had such a disdain for customers and customer service and this was the cornerstone of the brand. I hated how it made me feel when I used the airline and swore that I would even avoid destinations if they were the airline to take you there.
This time the Liverpool v Borussia Dortmund match dictated the destination and Ryanair was the best way to get back to Cork.
We are handed a magazine as we board… It’s not a magazine but a catalogue of things to buy – there is nowhere to put it except by my feet as there is no pocket on the back of the seat. The back of the seat instead carries safety information and an advert for cosmetics that can be purchased on board.
I look down the gaudy big yellow bus, the heat is on full blast and everyone is fidgeting with their air vents. The people around me grumble about the stifling heat while the pleasant hostess passes by quickly wanting to know who wants to buy scratch cards (I presume some people like to buy them but for the life of me I can’t imagine why – I feel for her, it must be a part of the job she hates!).
I’m looking forward to getting off in Cork and for this flight being over but first I’ll finish this blog post about brands and how they make you feel.
I guess Ryanair have improved a lot but yeah …I still hate them but not as much as before.
What brands do you feel strongly about?
Tags: Cork, Dublin, Fuzion PR, Graphic Design, Greg Canty, Marketing, Ryanair
Greg Canty Fuzion Blog 
May 4, 2016 at 2:53 pm |
Greg,
The amount of disdain you feel for Ryanair seems a bit OTT. It is a budget airline. Flying you in a safe, clean and no nonsense way from Cork to Liverpool.
The flight takes a little under an hour. The chap that owns the airline has a dramatically different personality than what you are accustomed too. However, I have yet to hear of anyone dying on a Ryanair flight. With Ryan Air being the cause.
The staff especially on the Irish routes, are usually friendly and chipper lads/lasses. You feel hard done by being able to get into an aircraft and be taken safely from one country to the next for under a 100€?
You do realise that makes you sound like a spoiled child. Which is something you are not. Mr. O’Leary’s company provides as service, if you do not like that service, why use it? You could take Air Lingus, I believe or you could drive up to Dublin and take the ferry.
I think you are less angry by the service and more upset about your perception of the person that owns RyanAir character. Instead of just being grateful that you live in an age of cheap European flights and easy access. Unless, they are usurping your rights or being intentionally vulgar or rude, just get on with it.
Now, if they treat you personally in a poor manner, then YES by all means have a go. But, vitriol for the sake of it is beneath someone of your ilk isn’t it?
May 10, 2016 at 10:12 pm |
I hate the brand as explained in my post .. hate!!
May 19, 2016 at 1:02 pm |
JW I think you hit a nerve there.
I love RyanAir.
I love Mickey and his irreverence to all things bureaucratic.
I love him because he says he wants to shoot cyclists ( I like them) He says that s**t and doesn’t give a flying f**k.
I love him when he says “If I thought loving my customers would have generated this amount of business i would have done it sooner”.
However I love him most of all because I remember that getting to England was usually about 250 quid plus in real money which was about half your mortgage in the old days.
However what Greg is saying “I hated how it made me feel ” and theerin lies the truth.
When i asked for a gin and tonic and she gave me a shampoo sachet of gin with no ice and lemon I said “I hate flying with this shower”.
It wasn’t that they treated me like shite…. they made me feel like shite.
Its changing, and one could say that I have a love hate relationship with them.
Other brands…thats a really good question and because nothing is coming directly into my head it shows the huge opportunity there is for companies to win the minds hearts and feelings of their customers.
Yours
With feeling…
May 19, 2016 at 1:05 pm |
As Boston would say “More than a feeling” !! You are right Alan – that’s how they make me feel.
Thanks for reading and i hope you are well.
Greg
May 19, 2016 at 1:44 pm
Alan: they made me feel like shite. — I suppose I am more like Eleanor Roosevelt than I thought 😉 No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.
Why would you feel bed because you got Ghetto gin, there is Gin!! Drink that sachet like a boss.
Then when you get off the air-plane, go get a real G&T. Of course, I may not be the best person to deal with feelings, I have the personality of a steel trap!
May 19, 2016 at 2:24 pm
What;s even stronger than steel?
May 19, 2016 at 2:57 pm
@Greg Titanium?
May 19, 2016 at 3:31 pm
Titanium McCabe …. it might catch on but if someone shortened that name t could be embarrassing!!
May 19, 2016 at 4:01 pm |
“No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.” Jaysus JW you must have bypassed the Christian Brothers so… “feel inferior, I could hardly feel my backside for a week”
May 30, 2016 at 9:45 am |
Love it !
May 30, 2016 at 11:10 am |
I am sorry I do not know what the Christian Brothers are. But, I did not by pass being brought up in a religious environment or area.
I do however understand that hating someone who provides you a service, with whom you do not directly deal and who has done no personal harm too you, silly. I am not a very emotional person in general even though I am woman.
No one makes you feel any way, unless you choose to give them that power. Example is: Alan I hate that shirt you are wearing. Guess what, you could care less what some random person on the internet says or does. Or my life policy, unless you cut me cheque,I pay most people no mind.
May 30, 2016 at 9:04 pm |
I like it JW…