Why This Hated Airline CEO Could Get A $100M Bonus 

at least he is honest and not trying to hide stuff under corporate bluff

The reality is that without budget airlines, less well off people would be able to fly and go on vacation less. There's nothing wrong with a cheap, no-frills airline and if you don't like them, don't fly them - that's how competition works.

Ryanair isnt that extreme. They spread rumours like standing up themselves as free advertising. Its a reliable, cheap bus that flies. It has the same safety regulations as every other EU airline.

He is not hated. He has brought affordable travel to millions of people all over Europe and has built one of the most successful airlines in the world. He is not crazy either.

Michael is a legend may sound controversial but he wants people to fly cheaper and more frequent rather than expensive. They took it from context on this interview. He was talking about a flight between Ireland and Uk wich is about twenty minutes not flying long distance standing up or eliminate a toilet to add two more seats. He was talking about a very short flight. Michael is a champion of cheap flights and Ryanair is the biggest company in Europe and recently he has critical to constant increase in airport taxes which force increase in fares.

Obviously there are downsides to Ryanair, but personally it’s allowed me to travel much more than I would’ve been able to otherwise. I just don’t buy any of the crap on board and I’m fine being a little uncomfortable if it means I save money

If you want great customer experience, you pay the extra for something extra. Ryanair is cutthroat cheap because it allows them to sell more. People acting like they don't care about their customers are wrong. They care that you pay as little as possible to fly. The whole standing and using the bathroom things are taken out of context. The CEO explained that standing would literally cost a dollar, and being able to fly around Europe for just a dollar is a steal. The bathroom thing was just trying to get space for more people, and more dollars. If the airline gets more dollars, they almost always pass that onto customers. Ryanair has done an extremely good job of always keeping their prices as low as possible. That's their goal. You don't go to the dollar store and complain about quality. You pay low, you get low.

Okay, this is actually kinda reasonable. You're buying a cheaper ticket, you're going to get less luxury. But also, some of the things RyanAir is doing with how they map out flights is really smart

6:08 airmalta is the national airline of malta (island EU country), not be confused with malta air, a ryanair subsidary. It is at the top of the wikipedia page for malta air

1:53 except they're not free. They're included in the price of your ticket, but paying check-in staff and paying for a booth at the check-in all costs money. You're paying for them with your higher ticket price, it's wrong to consider them 'free'.

for all the people going that this service is unacceptable, what actually is unacceptable is working class people not being able to afford to see their loved ones.

I remember in the nineties when Aer Lingus used to charge hundreds of Irish pounds for a flight from Cork to London. Ryanair stopped the rort that was European National Airlines

An important note is that Ryanair is covered by EU law which is highly protective of consumers. Even if you know Ryanair is going to try to squeeze money out of you, you know you've got solid consumer protection and it won't be "too bad". So it's easier to trust them.

Oh they're just in Europe. Ok now i get why ppl pick it. Short flights you dont need water, or super comfy seats, or multiple bathrooms. Their average flight is 981km is which says about 2 hours. I'd take a no frills flight for a significant savings. I can drive 981km and still be in my same province let alone country.

I generally don't mind low-cost carriers, but I will never use Ryanair if I have an alternative.

I have no problem with their business model at all. It allows people to choose if they want to just pay to get to a location without amenities. The main issue I have is when, in the search for ultra low prices, they overwork their staff. That's not only bad for the workers, but it can lead to safety issues for passengers. You don't want technicians to do their checks in a rush. My other concern is not really their fault per se. I love airplanes, but as they become so cheap that people start using them more than trains and other alternatives with lower emissions, it's not good for the planet. But that's more on governments to price carbon emissions accordingly and/or create incentives for better alternatives.

Image at 6:15 is incorrect, this is a plane that belongs to now Air Malta KM. Not Ryanair's Malta Air

Never been to this channel, but not mad about watching the whole video! Host did an amazing job!

4:41 not mainly. Exclusively. That's one of the key aspects of their cost saving strategy. All ground staff, all plane crews, everything revolves around a single plane type.

O’Leary is a master of free publicity. He’s on record at a talk mentioning how he just says the most controversial things that he can to get in headlines to avoid paying for marketing, this is how the got attention in their early days.

I don't understand how the can even afford fuel for such a flight. Surely the fuel cost alone is more than 15 euro per passenger.

Why is it surprising to pay for bottled water? -

Ryanair's CEO is one of the best Ceo's out there, he understands money and efficiency

Note Ryanair is being investigated due to: - tax issues in Germany - Frankfurt-Hahn airport deal where they received training aid, and crew, pilot and maintenance funding Then has gotten fined by Spain due to "abusive" cabin bag and seat charges which will have knock-on effects (still can't understand how it's not illegal to force those purchasing tickets together to be split up, plus forcing parents to pay to reserve seats if have a kid).

I’m worried that company greed would take over at some point. If they’re already cutting costs to also to cheaper, who knows when they’ll start trying to cut past regulations to make more profit? It’s just how companies work, with a 1% exception. Some companies still care, but who knows how long that’ll last when they eventually change management? Going from the people who brought it up to where it was, to people who simply inherited the placement.

I've never used it before. I will hardly ever use it. But it puts pressure on the other airlines and keeps prices low.

He just got rid of the "free" stuff other airlines charge people for in the ticket price. So his tickets are super cheap and people simply pay for the extras they need. Makes perfect sense and I see no reason to hate him or complain about buying the cheapest flight and getting what you paid for... I hope this comes to the USA!

I love this bloke, he’s made flying affordable

Ehhhh nobody here in Ireland hates this man ? He's revolutionised low cost air travel and yeah if you want luxury and have a lot of baggage to travel with then you're probably not Ryanair's demographic and you probably don't fly with them anyways , but the fact that I can fly to somewhere for 2-3 days where I don't need to pay extra for a full size cabin bag and can just take my back pack and get return flights to mainland Europe for like €50-60 all in is amazing !

US airlines could copy 2 other things than just the crappy service: Ryanair is pretty much always in time, and prices are actually cheap, if you get all the extras you fly very comfortably and it’s still super cheap

I still don't really get why everyone thinks Ryanair is bad?? I'm Polish and I was on plane 16 times in my life (which I think is a lot, most of my friends have been twice at most) and most of these times it was Ryanair (I took Wizz like 4 times too but tbh I don't remember it being really different). Maybe I just took it for granted airport experience, but I never thought it was bad??? Sure, you have to be there a few hours earlier to go through all the checkups but that's understandable so you won't slow down the whole flight. The space you get on the plane is around the same as you have on a train. You have to pay for water and other food but the same goes for a train. Maybe it's not a first class experience but it's just travel, you can put up with it for 2 hours. And toiletes were always free.

European citizen here… I feel like this video was made by someone from the US… if you understand what I mean😅. This video makes Ryanair look like a crazy company which doesn’t care about the passengers at all. They only talk about how crazy, bad and awful Ryanair is but believe me most people are just fine with Ryanair just like me. Let’s start with let’s say the extra charges for phone calls with the call center. Ryanair is not the only one because Wizz Air is also doing that and from what I know it only applies if you are talking for a certain amount of time or if you’re in a non European country. And paying extra for food on the flight is not that bad. Thanks to Ryanair’s business model people (not only the rich ones) can meet their family or explore Europe. Ryanair gives a good price and moves you from A to B. From about 20 flights I had with Ryanair only 4 where delayed due to weather conditions, cabin crew was friendly and the plane was in a normal condition. Moreover most flights are around 1,5-2 hours long. Believe me you will survive a flight like that. P:S maybe I did miss the point of the video but personally it felt like a speculative video and not an actual informative one.

I fly the U.S. version of RyanAir (Frontier-which I call the air taxi) to western U.S. locations from Denver. Because I fly solo, take only a backpack & am in good condition, I don’t mind the padded rocks they call seats or boarding last-I recently got silver status which allows me to choose my seat at no additional charge at check in (which has promoted me from the last seat without a window to the first row of standard seats-a nice perk) but I still board at the end of the line because I don’t want to sit longer than necessary. Since I generally pay very low fares, there’s not enough to cover expenses with my ticket. However, if I knew that my ticket price would ensure that the employees were compensated well and treated well, in addition to some decent (not exceptional) customer service, I’d be willing to spend a little more. But that’s not the option I have & probably never will in this seat-as-commodity industry.

Not having more cheap options is not customer loyalty.

I find it funny when American creators do videos on Ryanair. Your airlines in North America are wildly expensive, have huge cost bases and have zero competition from other transport. You have been made to believe by unions that a round trip ticket has to cost $300 (so your pilots can earn CRAZY salaries) when in fact costs don’t have to balloon to extraordinary levels. Ryanair are amazing. They have signed handedly transformed low cost air travel. They pay their pilots very well and aren’t bent over a barrel by unions and greed. The loudest people will always be those that have been let down by them. That’s par for the course. 99.9% of us love them and long may their low fares continue

Great that their tickets are affordable, but they should treat their employees better. Millions in bonus for bossman, but subpar benefits for employees does not sit right.

If I compare Ryanair to travelling in the USA. Ryan air are always full, generally on time, it’s easy to use. If you look at air travel in the USA , over booking is normal and then de planning is common(it’s not allowed in the Eu).

Michael o Leary was asked about flights to USA. His response was. Yes we could do it but we only fly one plane type, so that means you would have to swim the last 500 miles. Also he only flies Boeing whereas his competitors fly Airbus mostly, this means poaching pilots is tougher.

I see why low-cost carrier here in PH was booming and acquiring more and more fleets

Its sometimes cheaper to fly airlingus or some other airline because Ryanair leaves you so far from your destination, you have to factor in bus or train tickets which are probably more than you paid for your Ryanair ticket, and the extra time taken out of your trip travelling.

0:59 is not a ryanair group aircraft, they don't have airbus aircraft that look like that.

I remember the cost of flights before Ryanair. He is far from hated in his native Ireland!

As a European I love Ryanair. We have an understanding here : you will get from point A to B (Alive) as cheap and fast as possible. It won’t be pleasant, but you can spend what you saved on something nice when you land. I stand up on the train for 1h, I think I can handle sitting down with my phone for 2-3

If I can pay $20 to go to another city, I’d stand for 2 hours. I’ve done worse on the subway.

Ryanair is a valuable company for travellers as it allows people from different social classes to fly and enjoy visiting countless destinations.

there are lots of caveats with ryanair that you did not mention about their business model. For example the fact that they are actually paid by the small airports to fly there and if the airport wants to negotiate down the payment, ryanair threatens to stop flying there. When I was a student, you could take a flight with a cabin-sized suitcase included in the fare. Now even this is a paid option while the base fare remained the same, part of the reason I do not fly Ryanair anymore. Even more so, when I wanted to fly out of Paris, Ryanair was flying to Beauvais which is about 80km or an hour north of Paris (that they asked to rename Paris-Beauvais to confuse passengers). The journey to the airport was more expensive than the flight ticket.

Hes worth every cent for Ryanair. $100,000,000 is only the purchase of 2 737 max aircraft. Which would you rather, 50 million more passengers per year or pay a 1% CEO tax to have a brilliant leader.

Ryenair is great you get a cheap price and the price is pretty transparent. Even if you add the extra stuff it's a fair price. Meanwhile the big carriers like Lufthansa in Europe, dont offer free baggage or any on-board service too but their flights cost about 300€ and more. And the price changes all the time you update the website or use a different device

Ryanair is a cargo airline, they haul self loading cargo.

"Air Malta" shown in this video isn't owned by Ryan Air. "Malta Air" is the Ryan Air joint venture.

Wait, I don’t understand the credit roll bit. All I could get is “cream pie is delicious “

When you have kids you tell em, "Study hard, find a good job, or else you have to fly Ryanair."

People want luxury at the cost of cheaper price. Stupid people

6:56 believe it or not airlines actually spend more money housing staff at hotels etc. than they do paying their staff.

he's not hated by any standard!! he is a Expert in his field! he should run for office in ROI, he'd be amazing

Years ago it was revealed that some small airports were paying Ryanair to bring business to their regions. May still be true.

Wow, I'm never flying this airline. Though the effort for cost cuts is impressive

american would love Ryanair. I paid £9.98 each way to Norway

There's another Ryanair Song called "Cheap Flights". It's on You Tube.

He deserves every penny. He’s one of the most brave, honest and admirable leaders I’ve seen. He’s actually made a difference in people’s lives. I genuinely do not understand how any rational person can dislike him. They must just be left-leaning, politically correct or hate freedom.

Michael O'Leary is a genius and has made international travel much more accessible for everybody. An awful pity he's not running his whole country of Ireland too

I love Ryanair to be honest, it is exactly how I'd run an airline or any business. Im the sort of person who wouldnt use all these extras so if i am paying for something im not going to use or get then its inherently unfair and annoying. Ryanair are amazing, if i want to bring an extra bag then i will apy for it, 9 times out of 10 I can manage a wrekend or a week trip away on one small bag as i pack my things tightly and just take things that i absokutely will need. If it wasnt for ryanair I would not have traveled as much as I have, I have the moat respect foe them over the overpriced scammy companies such as British Airways etc

Ryanair is great. It's basically the exact service as all the other European carriers and it's about a third of the price.

Nobody blown away by the beauty of this girl!? 😳😍😍😍😅

He' s not hated by me, bringing travel to the masses and you know where you are with him.

maybe later on he will suggest that only 1 pilot needed for each plane with that co-pilot seat converted to be a passanger seat. Then there is no need for stewardess. Cost cutting to the max

Then you havent met Simon Spies from Denmark, he Is even more crazy... My own experiences Is basicly they means cheap access to taxfree at my local airport (due to brexit). But I wont exactly call their choice of airports nasty (here's to Stansted at certain hours & hahn airport)

Hes not hated. I wish he would run for taoiseach of ireland

As an Irish person, thank you for this very well researched video. However, I would say it is not entirely accurate to say that Michael O'Leary is "hated" by the general public. He has been responsible for allowing many people here to travel off this island for holidays affordably, and a five minute look at the comment section on interviews he conducts shows he is largely respected as a shrewd business person. He is, rightly or wrongly, certainly more popular than the median politician here! :D

Half of what he says in the media is just courting publicity. He is a master at that.

you did her dirty by making her say creampie is delicious.🤣

He’s always interesting to listen to.

They really doubt price gouge you either that’s the thing. I took a flight last year on Ryan air and paid like 30 euro extra to sit in 1C. Took a flight on spirit the other week and they were charging $199 (it might have been 129 not 100%) to sit up there 😂

Here in Ireland we are limited to how we get off the island. I will try my very best not to use ryanair. I'd rather pay that little bit extra because myself and my family's mental health is a priority. I know of multiple people who've worked for them, from pilots to dispatch. All left with a bad taste in their mouths because of the working conditions & policies.

I don’t think anyone hates him, in fact a lot of people in Ireland respect him

I don't give a damn if they reduce their service as long as it significantly reduces travel prices

Makes perfect sense... Under pay your employees to reach your stock price goals and pay tons of bonus money to a CEO that is already super rich while screwing your employees that need that money... It's lake when American Airlines was going under so the employees took a pay cut ,figured ways save the company money and what did they get in the end ? The CEO got a huge bonus for it !

Surely this won’t end up like everything else cheap where they’re doing funky stuff to make things cheap until they have the user base and then skyrocket prices. 😂😂

I don’t like Ryanair but it costs much less money and is quicker door to door to visit my parents near Manchester from my new home in The Czech Republic than it did to get a train from London (about 3 times the price and two hours longer door to door)

What Kind of Snob hates that guy. He gives travel oportunity for working man for a fair price. He is a working class Hero.

I think people should be charged for weighing over a certain amount because how can a land whale get on a plane with no cost but my bag being slightly too heavy is unforgivable

Ryanair is perfectly fine, they're cheap and you know what you're getting when you pay those rates. No surprises, no shock fees. It's not like American budget airlines where they try to nickel and dime you. I've got no problem with them, you get what you pay for, nothing more nothing less.

Ryanair cleaning the plane after each flight, i don't think so. they just dump people on/off on and take off

Good luck in sustaining this, another competitor could do the same thing and offer better customer service

European here: Ryanair does have a somewhat negative reputation, but we fly it because it's cheap. Of course we'd prefer better conditions, but given how inexpensive it is, we tend to just not mind.

It's like if Boeing was an airline.

Underpaying their staff/pilots and being a bad boss is also part of their strategy. But hey it’s cheap and as a customer you do not “know” that.

How a 10minute video can spend only like 10seconds on Ryanairs most important cost-cutting strategy, underpaying workers, fore example through having them be employees of the mentioned maltese or polish subsidiaries, is staggering to me

Hes not hated? Nobody says he is hated. He has practically made Ryanair over the last 30 years

Michael O’Leary isn’t hated, his brutal honesty is respected.

I love ryanair. No bs, hidden costs. You know what you are paying for. 15EUR for a flight from London to Rome.. C’mon

O'Leary is a modern genius, and unlike Musk he doesn't comment on issues outside his job and competency

I flew spirit once and it was the first and only time. As a passenger, my comfort and time are more valuable. This is why I fly Delta whenever I can, it all depends on the length of the flight and how much stuff you're taking with you, but overall if you need to pay for bags, in my experience it is the same as paying for a more expensive option. Seeing that you can get a $30 flight, it might be worth the hassle, it would not be my first option.

Alan joyce ceo of quantas used the same business model. He become rich and destroyed the company reputation.

It’s an Irish airline, Irish law so good for him

BRO IF YOU BUY THE CHEAPEST AIRPLANE SEAT ON THE MARKET DON'T GO AROUND AND COMPLAIN ABOUT IT!

He's already wealthy, and he deserves every single penny. The company he built is impressively profitable, in an industry where no one makes money. If you ask me they should give him a Billion.

!! 5:48 does not fly to Belarus !! Error

Given the costs of airline maintenance would you really trust Ryanair for safety. I don’t and won’t.

That was Air Malta, not Malta Air, 2 different airlines....