Ryanair 1 Panorama 0

It’s hard to tell with Ryanair if they are genuinely angry at their treatment at the hands of Panorama or whether they are just trying to court as much publicity out of the programme as possible. Either way, it’s unlikely the programme will have any harmful effect on their business.

There are several statements on the Ryanair website criticising Panorama and the correspondence between the two makes for an entertaining read:

Panorama: Is there an “ideal” Ryanair customer?

Ryanair: Yes. Any human being with a brain, a pulse and a credit card, who doesn’t want to be ripped off with BA or Easyjet’s high fares and frequently delayed flights.

In truth, the Panorama documentary was fairly benign and contained little that anyone with even a passing knowledge of Ryanair wouldn’t have already known. Panorama seems to have been in decline for years and it was like watching a tired old boxer trying to land punches and repeatedly missing.

Even the “disgruntled employees” Panorama found to make statements about Ryanair didn’t really have anything particularly damning to say. In one extremely pointless section, the Panorama reporter went to an Airbus press conference to try and stir up trouble, but failed miserably.

The whole gist of this section and an interview with a boss of a Swedish airport was that Ryanair use all their negotiating power and screw their suppliers for everything they can get, as if this is a crime. The same accusations could be made at virtually any major company.

Ryanair like to play with the media and I think the way they are now calling themselves Britain’s Favourite Airline is quite amusing. I also find the way boss Michael O’Leary can’t seem to finish a sentence without using the words customer and service interesting.

However, there’s a fine line between appearing playful and appearing childish. Their argument with Panorama seems to centre around Panorama saying Ryanair wanted editorial control over any interview and Ryanair denying this, saying they just wanted the interview broadcast unedited. You could argue that denying Panorama the right to edit an interview is exercising editorial control. You can’t help but think O’Leary would have been better off agreeing to be interviewed. Failing to do so made it look like he has something to hide, which he probably hasn’t.

Apart from making me question whether it would be enjoyable working for Ryanair – any company that decides pilots can’t have water any more would have me turning up for work each day expecting to find my chair replaced with a couple of milk crates – the programme made me wonder what has happened to Panorama and wishing I’d watched Masterchef instead. At least the programme that followed, Life, reminded us of the brilliance the BBC is still capable of.

Tagged as: Ryanair