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By David Parker Brown, on December 21st, 2012 at 10:56 am
 Ryanair Boeing 737 seen in Seattle before delivery. Photo by Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren. If you cover the airline world, you probably know the name, Stephen McNamara. He is the crazy (or pure genius) PR person behind Ryanair. I was shocked to recently read that he will be leaving Ryanair and heading over to Rugby Football Union as their Director of Communications.
You see, I have a special place in my heart for Mr. McNamara. He is well known as being elusive to many in the aviation journalism biz and I was extremely privileged to have him email me about some “mis-information” a while back. Him leaving has stirred up the memories and I wanted to reminisce.
It all started with me writing a story way back on March 10th 2010 about Ryanair stranding some passengers. The story showed up on my blog, but also on my Seattle PI syndication. This is where Mr. McNamara found my story and strongly disagreed with what he read. He wrote directly to the Seattle PI, but since they have no editorial control over my content, the email was forwarded to me. Mr. McNamara did not like that the Seattle PI was not able to change my story.
“Your answer is less than satisfactory and it is a damming indictment of the Seattlepi.com that you would allow clearly incorrect and biased information appear and remain on your site – brushing this off as an issue for the publisher is simply rubbish – it is on your site, you are the publisher,” McNamara stated in his response to the PI (see his full reply here). Even at this early stage in my blogging career, I knew I was on to some gold-standard material.
BONUS: The five stages passengers go through when flying ultra low-cost carriers — like Ryanair
 Stephen McNamara, currently head of PR for Ryanair. I decided to write him back. I truly don’t want to be writing wrong information and was happy to update my story. Although he stated that he doesn’t “have the time (or resources) to correct the errors most bloggers come up with,” McNamara gave me a very long winded reply email correcting my mistakes. His reply was filled with even better material and I questioned if I should share his entire email or just give a summary. Knowing Ryanair loves the negative attention and the fact that the message was just too good not to share, I made the decision to copy and paste.
If the same thing would happen today, I probably wouldn’t make the same move, but there are benefits to being a lesser known blogger.
Don’t get me wrong here… I have tremendous respect for Ryanair and Mr. McNamara. The crazy ideas they have come up with, just to get free publicity, have been pure genius. The fact that so many journalists around the world pick up the stories as fact has been hilarious.
Passengers and media love to hate this airline, but their business model of extreme ala-cart pricing and laughable headlines getting them free publicity has made them one of the most successful airlines.
It is amusing to me that some headings (example one and two) stated that working as head of Ryanair PR is the worst PR job in the world (well, Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary actually said it first). I think I have to disagree a bit. Where else can you come up with stories, like offering standing seats only, banning kids from flights, requiring passengers to pay for toilets or state you are looking at only having one pilot instead of two in each plane and have media around the world eat up your story and give your company publicity? That sounds like a pretty rad PR job to me.
So, Mr. McNamara, I salute you and the work you have done at Ryanair. I hope your replacement is as equally entertaining and able to provide high-end content for little ‘ol bloggers like me. The fact that I have traveled the world to cover different airline and travel stories, but our interaction over two and a half years ago is still one of my favorite all-time stories says something. I wish you the best of luck.
NOTE: I will be emailing Mr. McNamara with a link to this story hoping to get some sort of comment. If so, I will update the story. I wouldn’t hold your breath, but it is the giving season right?
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This story written by… David Parker Brown, Editor & Founder.
David started AirlineReporter.com in the summer of 2008, but has had a passion for aviation since he was a kid. Born and raised in the Seattle area (where he is currently based) has surely had an influence and he couldn’t imagine living anywhere else in the world.
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By David Parker Brown, on March 31st, 2011 at 8:15 am
 Ryanair Boeing 737 Yesterday Ryanair “officially” announced that they will start offering child-free flights starting in October. Is this real or another free-publicity tactic by Ryanair? Well, the catch is that Ryanair might be crazy enough to do this. However, the fact that it is April Fools day tomorrow, makes me suspect this might all be a ruse. Also take into account that they have a history of pulling April Fools jokes in the past, from providing moon flights, offering first class seating and selling porn on board, Ryanair has been a fun little jokster.
Don’t get me wrong, this is genius marketing. First you get media outlets to report on the story, creating buzz and free advertising. Then, after it is announced it was a joke, there is another round of free advertising, saying it wasn’t true and how silly Ryanair is being. I was able to get an official copy of the press release, but I haven’t been able to get any confirmation from them that this is an April Fools joke. Sure, maybe this is real, but I am willing to bet that it is not. Since the press release itself is so entertaining, I want to share it with you all:
RYANAIR TO INTRODUCE ‘CHILD FREE’ FLIGHTS
Ryanair, the world’s favourite airlines, today announced that it will introduce ‘Child Free’ flights from October (winter schedule) after a Europe-wide survey of 1,000 passengers showed that half would pay higher fares to avoid other people’s children. The survey showed that a third of passengers (36%) have had flights ‘ruined’ by other people’s noisy kids with one in five passengers (18%) urging Ryanair to restrict the number of children on flights.
While the survey found that passengers would prefer to avoid other people’s children, it placed ‘blame’ firmly with parents with top gripes being:
- 50% Parents who expect ‘special treatment’ because they have children.
- 25% Parents who allow children to annoy those in seats behind.
- 15% Parents who board late and expect others to accommodate them.
- 10% Parents who allow children to run in the aisles or kick seats.
Ryanair’s Stephen McNamara said:
“When it comes to children we all love our own but would clearly prefer to avoid other people’s little monsters when travelling. While half our passengers would like us to divide our cabins up into ‘adult’ and ‘family’ areas it is not operationally possible due to our free seating policy, with optional priority boarding. However, with clear demand for ‘child free’ flights Ryanair will introduce child free flights on high frequency routes from the start of our winter schedule in October.”
So what do you think? Real or fake? Would you like to see child free flights?
Image: jplphoto
By David Parker Brown, on May 10th, 2010 at 4:58 pm
Hello and thank you for visiting!
My name is David and I love reporting on the airline business. I have had a passion for aviation, pretty much since birth; especially the airline industry. I have been “blogging” (on other topics) since 1999 before “blog” was even a word. I pride myself on positively covering the airline industry.
I starting this blog in July of 2008 and today I have a great team of writers helping to great content from around the world, specializing in aviation, travel and airlines.
As of March 2013, the @AirlineReporter Twitter account has over 18,000 followers and I have been able to create many positive relationships with those in the media, airline business, and in airplane manufacturing. Our content is also syndicated with Reuters.
I have been on, written for, or quoted on a number of different media sources like CNN, CNBC, Reuters, MSNBC, NPR, FOX, AOL, Huffington Post, Forbes, APEX magazine, Puget Sound Business Journal, Seattle Times, Gadling, and many other US and international media.
In 2012, we traveled over 90,000 miles to cover stories, while most of us also juggle full-time jobs. We all have the passion and dedication to share positive stories on the aviation and travel industry.
 Standing in front of ANAs first Boeing 787 Dreamliner at Paine Field |
 In the cockpit of a United Airlines Boeing 747-400 at LAX |
Here are some example blogs we have written:
WORLD ADVENTURES:
* Delivery flight of LAN’s first Boeing 787 Dreamliner (3 part series)
* Qatar Airways Delivery Flight of Their First Boeing 787 Dreamliner (3 part series)
* Flying on the Boeing 747-8I Inaugural Flight
* Review of Emirates non-stop Service from Seattle to Dubai
* Hitching a ride with RwandAir to Africa on a Boeing 737 delivery flight (5 part series)
* Checking out Singapore Air’s new Airbus A380 service from LA to Singapore (3 part series)
* Flying to Frankfurt for 24 hours before taking Lufthansa’s first A380 flight to Miami (4 part series)
* Tokyo’s new International Terminal at Haneda with ANA (5 part series)
DESTINATION STORIES:
With all the travel to so many different places, I have started to not just cover the trip, but also the destination.
* Desitnation: Singapore
* Destination: Japan
* Traveling to Dubai
* In Frankfurt for 24hrs (for the second time)
DAY IN THE LIFE
This is a series where I take airline jobs and profile them in great details.
* Experiencing AirTran’s flight attendant training in Atlanta, GA (5 part series)
* Looking at Alaska Airlines Board Room as a passenger and as an employee (3 part series)
DOMESTIC REVIEWS
* Flying JetBlue from The Bahamas to Boston
* Testing Alaska Airline’s 25 (now 20) minute checked bag guarantee
* Reviewing Continental Express’ ERJ-145
* Scenic flight with KenmoreAir
* Exploring all the great aviation attractions in Seattle
 Checking out Singapore Airline |
 Working for a day at Alaska Airline |
BOEING EXPERIENCES
Being based in Seattle, WA gives us the opportunity to have a close relationship with Boeing and aviation-related companies in the area.
* Boeing 787 Dreamliner delivery, first flight and more.
* Multiple Dreamliner interior tours.
* Boeing 747-8 Freighter first flight
* Trips inside the Boeing Factory
ADDING FUN INTO THE MIX
My blog covers many serious topics, but also has quite a bit of fun. I try to have a good mixture of blogs to keep it interesting and relate with a wide range of readers.
* I try to hitch a ride on a Beechcraft Starship
* Stephen McNamara from Ryanair emails me multiple times
* Every week I highlight a new airline livery
* Researching the history of an Eastern Airlines Boeing 727
* Finding out why some airlines have a 13th row and others do not
 Photo taken while exploring Singapore |
 Standing in front of the very first Boeing 747-8 Intercontinental |
MEDIA
I take and post quite a few videos and photos for my stories:
* Flickr (over 3.5 million views)
* YouTube (over 1.5 million views)
CONNECT
I let readers connect with me in the way they want
* Twitter
* Facebook
* LinkedIn
* 4Square
If you have any questions or want to work together, please feel free to contact me:
David Parker Brown
david@airlinereporter.com
206.724.9602
By David Parker Brown, on March 24th, 2010 at 4:30 am
 Amy's family took this photo when flying from Shannon to Paris in 2008. Dorothy (Amy's mom) points out the Aer Lingus plane in the background going to the same airport and charging three times more than Ryanair. Don’t worry folks. The blog is not going to turn just into talking about Ryanair, but recently I have received not just one, but two emails from Stephen McNamara with Ryanair and they have caused a lot of discussion on Twitter and the blogsphere [check out the BitterWallet.com opinion on the letters]. A lot of people have contacted me and commented about how crazy Ryanair can be, but I think they just would take it as a compliment. I haven’t had the opportunity to fly Ryanair, but my girlfriend Amy has been able to fly them quite a few times and I wanted to share her viewpoint:
Due to a study abroad experience, and later a work relocation for a family member, I’ve had the opportunity to travel a bit in Europe, flying on Ryanair about 15 times.
Ryanair has cheap tickets to various cities in Europe. They have a great business model – no question about that. I think that anyone who is duly warned about the downsides of flying Ryanair and then complains about it is getting exactly what they deserve. It’s a low-cost airline, and they don’t owe you anything. If you want a first-class experience, go ahead and pay three times as much to fly another airline. If your main concern is fast and cheap Point A to Point B service to another European city, then low-cost airlines like Ryanair or Wizz Air or easyJet or whoever is the cheapest that week will do just fine.
You should do your research whenever you plan a trip, that’s a given. There a few things to consider if you’re deciding whether or not to fly a low-cost airline on your trip. For ease of comparison, I’ll refer to the points that David and Stephen McNamara were debating about Ryanair.
#1: Customer service – Low-cost airline staff are primarily concerned with efficiency. You may be trading above-and-beyond friendliness for getting the plane off the ground in time. I don’t exactly equate on-time arrivals with “customer service” but it’s important to recognize that Ryanair has a good on-time arrivals record. Ryanair doesn’t do connections, so being on-time is pretty critical if you’re hopping around. I was only on two late flights, and only one was a little catastrophic for my vacation plans. Did I go complain to Ryanair? No way. Did I expect them to pay for my 200 Euro cab ride because I missed my train? No – I knew exactly what I was getting into when I bought that cheap ticket.
#2: Charging for the little things – Yeah, there are lots of fees that make that cheap fare go up (though probably still cheaper than a larger airline). Here’s a list of Ryanair’s fees. However, if you have no checked luggage, can find a promo fare with no check-in fee, don’t need snacks or drinks, don’t need priority boarding (which most families do) and have no sports equipment, musical instruments or baby stuff (including actual babies – 20 Euros), you can avoid a lot of fees. Think 22 year old backpackers. This is their heaven.
#3: Flying to small airports – Ever heard of Reus, Spain? How about Beauvais, France? That’s “Barcelona” and “Paris” in low-cost airline speak. Many (but not all) of the airports that low-cost airlines fly to are outside of the major city where your hotel probably is. In this case, you’ll probably pay about 15 Euros to take a bus for 1-2 hours. In Weeze, Germany, I believe the bus we took into Dusseldorf was also owned by Ryanair, which is pretty genius. When flying from London to Dublin, I booked a flight from Stansted and it required a one-hour train ride from London, adding another 30 BPs to the overall cost of the flight. It makes sense that flying to smaller airports keeps costs low – and it’s usually not a big deal. Just know how to get to the main city.
#4: Ryanair is popular – Well, yeah – Ryanair was kind of the pioneer in this market and their route coverage has just grown and grown. After awhile I would just assume that Ryanair had a better/cheaper flight than its competitors.
#5: Charging to make reservations over the phone – I never called to book flights (I’d go to internet cafes), so I didn’t experience that first-hand. I guess their argument is that people who use the online booking shouldn’t absorb the cost of paying customer service representatives that answer the phones. Use the internet, it’s 2010.
#6: Almost never giving refunds – I would never have expected a refund from Ryanair. They are pretty upfront about being a bare-bones airline, and I’m sure the other low-cost airlines are the same. Also, if you don’t get a refund, you’re really not out that much money.
#7: People fly, in spite of their complaints – For me, the positives (cheap, good schedule) outweighed the negatives (slight inconveniences, occasional fees, minimal customer service). There is certainly something to be said for the “if you don’t like it, go somewhere else” approach. There were a couple of times I felt frustrated and declared that I would never fly a low-cost airline again, but that feeling only lasted until I got to a computer to try to book my next trip.
Low-cost airlines in Europe really are in a class of their own. For most routes, it seems like they compete more with ground and sea travel than they really do with large, long-haul airlines. I came to view the small airports like train stations – lines aren’t too long and you don’t need to be there very early.
Basically, if any other airline could offer better customer service, fly to bigger airports, and still be cheap – they’d run Ryanair out of business. But it doesn’t look like that’s going to happen, so for now low-cost airlines like Ryanair are your only choice and they know it. Consider yourself warned and make sure to do your research.
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By David Parker Brown, on March 22nd, 2010 at 7:35 am
 Ryanair Boeing 737 On Friday I posted an email I received from Ryanair. I very much enjoyed the email and the interaction with Stephen McNamara, Head of Communications with Ryanair.
In the comments of the blog, I was asked how I replied to his email. I thought about a long reply, but settled on just thanking him for connecting with me and that I have corrected my blog. I was kind of hoping he would read the post I made and oh boy did he!
Here is his (unedited) email I received on Friday morning:
Hi David
While I contacted the Seattle pi I will not be keeping a line of communication open with your blog – no disrespect but I simply don’t have the time (or resources) to correct the errors most bloggers come up with – but as you said, you have never flown with Ryanair so perhaps you are unaware that:
1. They provide sub-par customer service (and are almost proud of it) – Wrong. Ryanair has the best on-time record, the least lost bags and the fewest cancelations of any major European airline.
2. charge for everything – Wrong. Ryanair allows passenger to avoid paying for any of the services that are factored into the cost of high fare tickets, the average fare with Ryanair (which includes a 25KG baggage allowance) is just €32 – compared to the next cheapest airline at €60.
3. fly to smaller airports. Wrong. In some cases we do, but we also fly to many main airports (e.g. Berlin, Edinburgh, London and Madrid etc) and passengers, especially those who travel frequently realise that it is more comfortable and quicker to travel through smaller airports – while it also allows for cheaper fares which passengers would walk over hot coals to get to.
4. but are one of the most popular airlines in the world – Wrong (but almost correct). We are the world’s favourite airline per IATA statistics which show that Ryanair carried more international scheduled passengers than any other airline last year.
5. They charge customers to call their customer service hotline – Wrong. We don’t have a customer service hotline; passengers can contact customer service in writing only.
6. and are well known for almost never giving refunds. Wrong. While our fights are non-refundable we do provide refunds in rare cases of weather related cancelation (per EU 261 legislation) and in cases where they are entitled to a refund of government taxes and charges. However, if a passenger is looking for a refund because their cat/dog/grandmother is sick they are not entitled to one, and won’t get one – per the Terms and Conditions they agreed to.
7. Yet, they provide super low fares and passengers keep flying them. Correct – almost, it should really say and an increasing number of passengers fly them – Ryanair continues to grow thanks to our low fares while other airlines’ passenger numbers continue to collapse.
But I guess I can let you have that one – one out of seven ain’t bad – for a blogger!
Ryanair does ‘understand’ social media and that blogs are generally based on opinion (which is why we generally ignore them – unless they appear somewhere like the Seattle PI). Far be it from me to preach on new media but like good journalists good blogs should be balanced and at least factual – if a blogger wants to blog about something by all means go ahead but if people are going to take the time to read a blog they should be confident that the blogger at least knows the facts and matches those facts with the entertainment value a blog provides.
Finally, re “I have updated my blog, but in my defense, major news organizations were covering this, like the BBC for example.” Ryanair was contacted by the BBC and provided a statement which was carried in the piece and explained the situation – this however did not make it into your blog – which is why we contacted the Seattle PI – bloggers can not just take a story that entertains them and omit the facts – as you clearly did in this case. Major news organisations provided balance, when you picked up the story from their sites you ignored that balance.
Regards
Stephen McNamara
Head of Communications
Ha! 1 out of 7 or about 14% right (according to Ryanair). Surprised I got the “Ryanair is one of the most popular airlines in the world” wrong. How about the most famous Irish airline in the US or at least on my blog? Now most of the rebuttals are questionable and I know McNamara is doing his PR job to put the positive spin on his airline.
Like I have said, I have never flown them before, so not sure how to respond to these. For those of you who have flown them, care to add your opinion on his email?
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Image: skippyscage
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