Ryanair was branded ‘mean’ after it responded to a customer who complained about their lack of a view with a brutal two-word put down that left some laughing and others wincing
A Ryanair passenger’s complaint about the lack of a window by their “window seat” was met with a cheeky response from the airline. Radio host Dave Treacy shared a photo of his allocated seat, which was beside a solid cabin wall, on X and joked: “When you book a window seat, but forget it’s @Ryanair.”
However, instead of apologising, Ryanair decided to poke fun at Dave’s expense, responding with a brief “Turkey flight?” The joke implied that the bald passenger might be headed to the country famous for hair transplants.
The comment sparked a mixed reaction online – leaving some laughing and others wincing. The tweet amassed 1.1 million views and led to numerous comments.
One found the comment hilarious, admitting: “I have just laughed way too loud at that.” Another chimed in: “I’m howling.” And a third declared the put-down was “amazing”.
Others took the joke further by Photoshopping hair onto Dave’s head, but some were unimpressed by Ryanair’s handling of the complaint.
One comment asked: “What’s the joke here?” Another said: “So mean.” Another added: “Ouch, that burns.” While one complained: “Not really polite of you Ryanair.”
Despite criticism of Ryanair’s social media etiquette, CEO Michael O’Leary has shown little concern about the airline’s sassy approach.
He told Skfit that the benefit of online platforms is the ability to “reach lots of people at no cost”.
His strategy appears to be to “make noise” to gain maximum exposure.
And it’s certainly paying off – Ryanair now has an impressive following of over 800,000 on X.