Ryanair calls bloggers “idiots” and “lunatics”
Ryanair seems to have a misunderstanding of blogging and has made the mistake of issuing a statement calling bloggers “idiots”.
What Ryanair seems to think is that bloggers are somehow separate to the mainstream media which is clearly not the case as the story is covered in the Times and Telegraph today.
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.
The row started when Jason Roe wrote a blog post and Ryanair started leaving strange comments.
It’s fine to have a policy of not engaging with bloggers but it seems unbelievable that the first time they break this policy it’s to call them idiots and lunatics.
Patrick Altoft is Director of Search at Branded3, a Leeds SEO & Digital Agency specialising in SEO, Web Design, Development & Social Media.
Comments
Read the 10 comments below, or add your own!
Yes but in fairness to RyanAir – the “idiot” was trying to show how to exploit a mistake on their website to get free tickets – then after publicizing how to steal tickets, had to admit he couldn’t remember what he did, or that it in fact worked.
Don’t think they should’ve categorized all bloggers as idiots, they should have specified it was just that one that was being an idiot.
Apart from the obvious Ryanair dilemma, it’s a pity that the Telegraph didn’t even bother linking to Jason’s blog and Times Online did only with Tinyurl. I thought it was just NYT but it seems this is becoming a usual practice. Why should we bloggers then link to these media sites (without a link condom) and wikipedia when they don’t give bloggers links when deserved.
Ha, ha, ha! This is brilliant isn’t it? I am impressed that they left insulting comments on his blog under the name Ryanair Staff # – way to engage there!
Reading comprehension 101.
“Idiot bloggers” does not equal all bloggers are idiots
“Lunatic bloggers” does not equal all bloggers are lunatics
I think its funny how it was traced back to the ryanair network! LOL
The power of blogs is amazing! Suddenly its all over the big news sites, you gotta love it!
I think he should of been given linkbacks, gutted for him!
Bloggers might be ‘idiots’ in the eyes of Ryanair but they are obviously important enough to warrant special attention from them and for them to rise to the (link)bait is a real schoolboy error as it all it has done is make the story go nuclear. What it is about ‘all publicity is good publicity’?
I think that the blogger who wrote that post didn’t do anything wrong, instead he honestly tried to point out the crappy website like Ryanair have. So, no idiot
, not at all. But when that idiot staff member from that idiot company arrived, the management had to say something. And it was really stupid what they came up with. But the big media should have point to his blog. Or was that another “paid” announcement. Who knows.
After all, Ryanair will start to cover expensives from charging passengers for their toilet use…
I bet that those or that member of Ryanair who wrote those idiot comments will not work there anymore. Maybe he is clearing out luggages as he or she should.
Happy flying,
Jarkko
I agree with My personal MBA and MII
This was a single Ryan employee (which you cannot even verify anything about them) who was irritated by someone trying to cheat his or her employer. The comment about “idiots” was ambiguous as to whether it means all or those that use their platform irresponsibly.
Still Jason got over 400 comments, a boost in traffic and links – a reward for a site that possibly gets a fraction of this usually.
Rob
Artisan
Whatever Ryanair say about it being only one ‘rogue’ employee’s opinion, there is no excuse for the language used in the comment to Jason. Isn’t their contempt for their customers ‘idiotic’?
Maybe Ryanair is trying to distract attention from the usability of its web site. See a funny example here:
http://lucachittaro.nova100.ilsole24ore.com/2009/03/ryanair-web-usability-undefined-.html