Ryanair And Which Magazine In War Of Words

Low cost carrier Ryanair have hit out at the consumer magazine Which? after they published a survey indicating more passengers preferred to travel with rival airline Easyjet. The survey was conducted with 30,000 Which? members and examined many airlines and the service they provide to their customers.

Ryanair have branded the magazine "out of touch" with the travelling public, and referred to the report as a "loony member useless survey." The airline claim that Easyjet cannot match their prices, punctuality, passenger numbers or traffic growth. They have also compared themselves on their website www.ryanair.com with British Airways stating that "passengers prefer Ryanair over BA’s high fares, fuel surcharges, delays and lost bags in Heathrow’s Terminal 5."

The Which? survey published on their website www.which.co.uk concluded that whilst Easyjet did not excel in several key areas they were superior to Ryanair in "helpfulness and efficiency of cabin staff, cleanliness of aircraft and handling delays" with Ryanair apparently scoring poorly in all these areas. However it must be noted that neither low-cost carrier scored well for customer satisfaction. This was in contrast to other low-cost or no-frills airlines such as Germanwings and Hungary’s Wizz Air that both scored well in the survey with Which? concluding "no-frills doesn’t have to mean poor service."

The results of the survey are sure to make painful reading for Ryanair as the aviation industry tackles soaring oil prices. Ryanair's Daniel de Carvalho had the following to say about the results of the Which? survey;

"If you want low fares and great passenger service then follow our 60m passengers and fly Ryanair. If you want to buy a useless magazine with no insight whatsoever into air travel, then we strongly recommend "Which" - whose annual loony member survey is about as useful as a baggage tag in Terminal 5."

This is in contrast to Which? magazines Neil Fowler who concluded the magazines survey by stating;

"You might think that you get what you pay for, but the best European no-frills airlines prove that you can offer a stripped down service at a good price and keep your customers happy. As for Ryanair and Easyjet, they might be cheap, but if you want great customer service then look elsewhere."

If you would like to examine the results of the Which? customer survey then they have compiled a very useful table that allows you to see how their members rated the various airlines and how they scored, you can find it here.

Published by: Jon Vickery