Ryanair is the Marmite of the travel industry - you either love it or hate it.
But full marks to the carrier for its response to a question we asked last week after seeing Google ads for easyJet on the Ryanair result pages.
Nothing wrong with this, of course - Expedia carries ads which feature links to its competitors. It's just not something one would expect the fiercely competitive Ryanair would do.
Here was their response:
"Google asked Ryanair if we wanted to have the advertising on our site restricted and we said absolutely not - these ads help to remind passengers that Ryanair offer the lowest fares in Europe and what a great deal they are getting with Ryanair.
"No other airline can beat Ryanair's............." etc, etc.
You have to laugh sometimes...
Fantastic response very witty!
Its actually good business sense. A customer clicking on an ad for a competing airline may make Ryanair as much as $1. That's clicking only - not purchasing. The customer may come back and book with Ryanair anyway. If not, they may have made more than actually selling a ticket with all the responsibility that comes with it.
Online travel makes money through advertising. PERIOD. Ask Kayak, travelzoo, etc.
Quite confident at their "lowest fares" offer. Online travel makes money through advertising (easyJet) and affiliating (Ryanair).
OurExplorer - Travel through the eyes of a local
A list of O'Learyisms :
http://airline-news.co.uk/michael-oleary-quotes/230
Interesting use of adsense, even on the booking page. I wonder if the bailout rate on the checkout page increased because of this.