Now, they’d be better off anyway if they did something that people actually used and at least semi-liked. Microsoft makes software that millions use every day. Dupont makes all kinds of poisons, but they do make fabrics that we know by name, and we even seek out for certain uses. Monsanto makes products that we don’t actively look for, other than roundup, and many people that use it might not even associate it with Monsanto, since the packaging doesn’t try to associate the compound with their brand.

P.S.- I was wrong. I didn’t get my boarding pass security stamped and they would not le me on my flight and so I had to pay full fare for the next available one.

FAIL

Philip: Ryanair is not just some low-cost airline which will go out of business with a single crash: it is one of the biggest airlines in Europe.

dsquared: Its profits are not unreliable: in fact it is consistently the most profitable airline in Europe, and this year is likely to be the only one to make a profit. Although if you meant that they don’t make a marginal profit on every passenger or every flight, that’s probably true (as with any airline).

My two cents on Henry’s question – it is, as others have said, basically a signalling mechanism to convince people that Ryanair really is cheap. This is not about misleading people, as they really are relatively low-cost. It’s more because a consumer’s perception of relative cheapness influences their behaviour.

If I am convinced that Ryanair is cheap, I’m more likely to accept the additional charges, less likely to make the effort of comparing with other carriers, and after the fact, more likely to believe I’ve got a good deal and consider a repeat purchase.

Every time O’Leary comes out with another story about how much he despises his customers or how he wants to charge to use the toilet, he ‘proves’ to us that he is so obsessed with low fares that he will damage his own reputation to save a few cents. The worse his reputation is, the stronger the proof and the more we believe that Ryanair’s fares are the lowest available.

Does not sound like an illegitimate method to be safer.

I live in Ireland, and there is no Easyjet here.

My point earlier on, Ryanair has usually no direct competition and in the Irish case not even a near substitute. Easyjet is more upmarket. Its a bit like Lidl and Aldi. On first view one might think they are direct substitutes, but they are not. Aldi has the most discount niche all alone. Easyjet often flies to the major airport, for a connection where Ryanair uses airports further away up to the middle of nowhere point.

If you value convenience and comfort more than me, that is fine. But, to suggest that it’s irrational to sacrifice quality for lower prices, then you’re going to have a hard time garnering my respect. After all, it’s not that bad.

Well, perhaps not all, but I think they don’t mind mildly negative publicity.

I disagree with most of the criticism of Ryanair here. I’ve shopped around for flights before and I’ve never found anyone cheaper than Ryanair, even when the silly charges are taken into account. I suppose it depends where you’re flying though. I live in Ireland, and there is no Easyjet here.

But given also that Ryanair only flies 737-800s, if one of them goes down because of mechanical failure or shoddy maintenance, then the lot are grounded. Long-haul carriers are obliged to maintain a more diverse fleet, which increases the cost of maintenance and the risk of ending up with a load of planes with somewhat dodgy records (DC-10) and no easy way to switch them out on the routes you run.

Anyway, Ryanair is Air Cad; it’s the commercial travel equivalent of “he hits me because he loves me.”

There is a grocery chain in Canada that has two very different marketing strategies for East and West: in Ontario, it’s called Loblaws, aimed at the high end of the market, with self-branded products (President’s Choice) that are green, exotic or otherwise pricey. They’re known as a more expensive, high quality grocer with excellent customer service and selection.

The same chain markets itself in the West as “Superstore”; they carry the same products at the same prices in stores of the same size, but they cut back on customer service (they don’t stock the shelves well, the place is dirty, they don’t have a phone line and the customer service desk hangs up on you, the workers are rude, you pack your own groceries and pay for plastic bags). Because shopping at Superstore is such an unpleasant experience, the chain is thought to be “discount”—even though the prices are exactly the same as Loblaws prices in Ontario.

It’s a deliberate marketing strategy, and it works. People just assume that it must be cheap because it’s so horrible.