Ryanair learns the power of social media – profits dip 29% despite a 600% increase in marketing budget
Editor’s note: This is a guest post by Shaun Smith, who has been a key catalyst in expanding management focus from the tactical issues of customer service to the much wider and strategic issue of customer experience. Shaun is also the author of “BOLD”. Find out more about him here. Sometime ago I wrote a blog …. continue reading →
"Crowdbranding": The Top 10 Crowdsourcing initiatives by Airlines
Yes, I said it: branding! The benefits of crowdsourcing, and its effectiveness for problem solving, are well-known. The power of the social web is being harnessed by airlines more than ever (in fact, a cargo-carrier has recently got into the game as well). Crowdsourcing initiatives are now being used not just to engage customers but …. continue reading →
The Seat of the Future: Top five airlines with the best seats in the air
Are you sitting comfortably? For many of us on flights these days, be they long haul or short, the answer is no. This can be due to anything from someone incessantly kicking the back of your chair to a loud snorer or an unhappy child. However, it seems that aircraft furniture of the future is …. continue reading →
Low cost airline brands get creative with ancillary revenues – lounges, shops and cargo!
RyanAir has a new lounge at Stansted. And it’s for real! RyanAir is known for being creative about ancillary revenues. We all know about the much-discussed toilet charge. But did you know that RyanAir has recently opened a new lounge at Stansted Airport? For under 18 bucks, you get breakfast, wifi, sofas and even showers …. continue reading →
Five lessons in crises handling from the Facebook war between Ryanair and SAS Scandinavian Airlines
I often get asked by senior airline executives and readers of this blog, “How can we deal with real-world PR crises using social media?” Well, the recent war of words Facebook and Twitter posts between RyanAir and SAS Scandinavian Airlines offers a number of lessons in the matter. For the unaware, here’s a a gist …. continue reading →
SimpliFlying welcomes two aviation stalwarts to its Board of Advisors – Donald Schenk and Patrick Murphy
Dear SimpliFliers, It gives me great pleasure to announce that Donald Schenk, the President & CEO of Airline Capital Associates in New York, and Patrick Murphy, the Chairman, Aviation Group at Performance Consultants International and the former Chairman of RyanAir, have joined SimpliFlying’s Board of Advisors. It’s an honor to have them on-board our fast-growing …. continue reading →
The Southwest Effect in Ireland? Does the RyanAir brand come close?
This is a guest post by Rob Mark from Jetwhine.com in Chicago. We’ve decided to begin a little cross-posting here at SimpliFlying and at Jetwhine. A commercial pilot and journalist, Rob has been writing Jetwhine as the blog of “aviation buzz and bold opinion,” for two and a half years. His posts are never dull …. continue reading →
Ryanair’s New Fee To ‘Check In’ & The Real Cost Of Some Low Cost Carriers
Note: This is a cross-post from Steven Frischling’s Flying with Fish blog, and the original can be read here. Steven Frischling, aka: Fish, is a self employed photographer, and founder of The Travel Strategist, who has flown approximately 1,000,000 miles since he began to track his mileage 2005. ————————————- Everyday hundreds of thousands of travellers …. continue reading →
Is Southwest Airlines model the future for full-service airlines?
. Recently, the Centre for Asia-Pacific Aviation (CAPA) published a report which concluded that the “full-service airline model break down in the new-world order“. “Worldwide, the number of passengers travelling on First or Business class tickets fell by 16.7% in Jan-2009, a further substantial fall from Dec-2008 levels, which were 13.3% down on the year.” …. continue reading →
What can Tony Fernandes of AirAsia teach US airline executives? Servant leadership.
Image via Wikipedia . I read an article about Tony Fernandes, the CEO of AirAsia, in The Economist today that got me thinking. Thinking about the last few articles I’ve written about United Airlines, RyanAir and Southwest Airlines – on how they make money off their customers – what what works and what doesn’t. There’re …. continue reading →





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