In a relatively bizarre case an employee of Ryanair left disparaging remarks about WordPress on someone’s blog. Someone with the airline should apologize.
In a relatively bizarre case an employee of Ryanair left disparaging remarks about WordPress on someone’s blog. Someone with the airline should apologize.
“…puts they’re mobile ph number online”
Oh dear.
All that was missing were the DRAMATIC CAPITALISATION AND EXCESS PUNCTUATION!!!!!!!!!!!
Really shocking comments, I was really taken back.
Quite a stupid action if you ask me. Not very good for the image of the company…
You’re just upset they referred to it as ‘word press’.
Matt, you really shouldn’t give them the publicity for this – this particular airline actually revels in it’s abrubt and hard-nosed reputation, the CEO deliberately makes outrageous statements, often disparaging his own customers, all the time.
For Ryanair, it is a very simple equation – anything, absolutely anything, that keeps them in the public eye, even stuff that other companies would consider damaging, means that more people will think of RyanAir and they no that, when the time comes to book a ticket, the vast majority of people won’t be able to resist checking RyanAir’s prices.
I hate RyanAir, they’re a nasty bunch, but I’ll be flying with them tomorrow because they’re charging me £95 and the only other airline on that route wanted £260. Frankly, I can’t justify spending that much extra.
Ryanair aren’t always the cheapest, especially with all their crazy extra charges, but everyone at least checks their prices, and that’s thanks to the fame/noteriety they’ve fostered. Believe me, if the Ryanair management notice the flurry of interest your post generates, the employees who posted those remarks will be congratulated and given a biscuit.
You can be inexpensive without being cheap.
You can, I can, but these eedjits?
They’d need an operation.
I hope it’s just a bad PR stunt..
So instead of responding intelligently or doing something about their problem, they throw back the cyber equivalent of a ‘yo mamma’ , and a bad one at that. Nice.
I used to work for Ryanair as cabin crew.
While I can say that outburst sounds very much like O’Leary. I’m sure he wouldn’t make fundamental mistakes such as naming it “word press” or even know what a CMS is unless explained. When he chooses to talk badly of others he makes sure to get the name right. To just say something is “crappy” isn’t a valid dig. More of a personal opinion. If Ryanair as a company chose to insult WordPress they would make more of a thorough job of it.
As for saying “Staffers”, Unless they split the typing between them I can only see this as being 1 person.
Every Ryanair base and their head office has open access computers for the staff to browse online while on breaks or airport-standby. Just because it’s on the defensive does not mean it was an official spokesperson of Ryanair. It could have been a single zealous member of cabin crew, human resources, a pilot, engineer or anyone at all.
Don’t get me wrong. I moved from Ryanair to Easyjet because I hated the company. I owe nothing to Ryanair. It even makes finding another job difficult these days as getting a referance from them is like getting blood from a stone. I cannot stand seeing a company named and shamed simply because of a single person who posted something while they may have been off duty or bored behind a desk.
So why should someone from the airline apolagise? It was not the airline who said anything, it was an individual. How many people in the world say online that wordpress is crappy do you think?
Lets say i work from home. Created my own online company and run it solely from my personal computer. If i was to say yahoo messenger was crappy, would I have to apolagise to Yahoo on behalf of my company because it came from the same IP?
It’s absurd! Would my local library have to apolagise to the World Wrestling Federation for all the rants i made about it as a kid from their computers?
But no. you’re right. We can’t find who the individual was so lets point the finger and play the blame game.
Grow up.
*this post has been made solely using my own judgement and opinions. It in no way is affiliated with any websites or companies i am currently affiliated with*. Maybe they should have posted that beneath their comment and spared everyone the incessant whining.
Blood from a stone? Amazing.
I live in Detroit and we’re happy just to get a virgin out of third grade! (There just aren’t many 22 year old virgins!)
Yep … calls for a public flogging are unwarranted. When that employee sobers up, they will probably be ashamed. Especially if they are over 22, married, and still can’t get any.
That whole discourse left me laughing and yet amazed that the employee of Ryanair was swinging at anything he could including WordPress.
In case you do not know about “bolloxology”
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/travel/your_say/article5773179.ece
or “twollocks”
http://timesonline.typepad.com/politics/2009/02/loving-the-numb.html
it was a really stupid action by this person
I don’t think it was Ryanair’s head honcho Michael O’Leary as there aren’t enough 4 letter words!
Ryanair have given their “apology”:
“Ryanair can confirm that a Ryanair staff member did engage in a blog discussion. It is Ryanair policy not to waste time and energy in corresponding with idiot bloggers and Ryanair can confirm that it won’t be happening again.”
“Lunatic bloggers can have the blog sphere all to themselves as our people are far too busy driving down the cost of air travel.”
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/travel/news/article5797990.ece
Public Relations with Ryanair: Lesson 1.
@steve
>Lets say i work from home. Created my own >online company and run it solely from my >personal computer. If i was to say yahoo >messenger was crappy, would I have to >apolagise to Yahoo on behalf of my company >because it came from the same IP?
Yes. If you’re making charges against a third party, as a representative of your company, you probably should apologise. You should note here that the RyanAir employee identified himself as just that, he was taking on the responsibility for representing the brand. Not sensible, but his/her choice.
>It’s absurd! Would my local library have to >apolagise to the World Wrestling Federation for >all the rants i made about it as a kid from their >computers?
No, you were just using their IP, they have no connection with you other than that. I think you’re focused here too much on the IP usage rather than the way the person identified themselves as RyanAir staff. The IP address only confirmed this.
Bottom line. If you feel you need to defend your employer online, first check with someone in the company who can advise you. If you can’t do that then at least have the good sense to do it from your home IP and give a disclaimer (as you have done).
I don’t blame the individual here. The company itself doesn’t seem to have a clear policy on reputation management. This person should have been informed that this was not a sensible thing to do (before they lost their job over it!).
P.S. @Matt – WordPress rocks, don’t fret it 😉
It would be good if RyanAir did apologise for that comment, especially now they have officially backed the outburst. A donation to a charity of your choice might be in order.
Imagine that WordPress has become such a ubiquitous part of our international culture that we can be so bold as to refer to it as “word press” and disparage it just like microsoft.
Take it as a compliment in a twisted way.
What can I say, this rally says it vall about ryanair.
Ryanair mulls charge for toilets.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7914542.stm
You have to laugh. LOL
. Mike
Are Ryanair taking the *iss.
Charging to spend a penny, get a grip Michael. I admired what you had done up to now, this will put me off flying with Ryanair.
If it is introduced I will fly with an alternative airline, even if it costs more. I'll take my *iss elsewhere !
Ha, yes I saw this on CNN the other day – Ryanair is thinking of charging people to go to the bathroom on flights.
This would be funny if it weren't so inappropriate and outright stupid.