Ryanair's social media strategies are notoriously risky. Photo / X
Ryanair's social media strategies are notoriously risky. Photo / X
Budget airline Ryanair always make for a memorable travel experience, not necessarily a good one.
I flew with Ryanair last year. My son was 2 at the time, so he flew for free. I assume this is why they didn’t bother giving him a boarding pass, but instead, a blankpiece of cardboard with his name scribbled on it. Unsurprisingly, we didn’t make it past security.
Who knew you couldn’t fly internationally with a boarding card you drew yourself?
I neglected to turn this into an anecdotal social post for fear of their extra-savage social team responding; their comebacks notoriously sassy.
Here are five of our favourites, with an introduction to the man who championed them all.
Blame the overly luxurious airlines of yesteryear, but today’s traveller seems to assume paying for a seat on a plane entitles them to a window as well.
People. You don’t get fries and a cola with your Big Mac, unless you pay for a Big Mac meal.
2. Window seats - still without a window
There are occasions, however, when you book everything correctly and the product still fails to deliver. Not that Ryanair worry about such trivial matters:
“Finally happened to us, we booked a window seat with no window. Such an incredible experience. Thanks, Ryanair.”
Wrote X user Gabi, while also sharing a picture of a man looking at the plane’s barren interior walls.
Ryanair’s response: “Staring at it won’t change it”.
3. Ryanair doesn’t want to be Air NZ
It wouldn’t be a day at Ryanair headquarters if there weren’t several complaints about the inflight lack of legroom.
What passengers need to understand, when writhing about in their blue plastic seats, legs in their armpits, is that Ryanair is a decision – one you personally made when you saw $20 flights to Magaluf.
Even indignation knows you get what you pay for.
4. Swearing won’t get you anywhere, literally
When passenger Ryan (not so politely) asked Airline Ryan to take off quicker - effing and jeffing in the process - the sharp-witted keyboard warriors at Ryanair were quick to respond. Proving not all Ryans are made equal.
Ryanair's sassiest comments posted on social media platform X: x.com/Ryanair/status/1565708833481170946. Photo / X
5. Ryanair wins, you lose. Always.
Cry as you may about being charged a phenomenal fee for being 50g overweight, none of us mere mortals can beat the system. Cough up or cry more – in your Uber home.
Ryanair has the planes. As much as it pains most of us to admit, we need them.
It has to be one of the most frequently asked questions at Ryanair HQ, especially in the social media department. There’s a fine line between amusing the masses and antagonising them.
But Michael Corcoran likes fine lines.
As Ryanair’s Head of Social and Creative Content between July 2021 and November 2023, he is accredited for pushing (now notorious) boundaries, specifically when it comes to sonic-speed Ryanair comebacks, always erring on the side of insulting.
Originally from South Kilkenny in southeast Ireland, Corcoran later found himself 40 minutes south, in Waterford, working as a bouncer. A gig he claims helped him to become a social media whizz.
In an interview with the Daily Mail, Corcoran likens dealing with angry drunks to handling the internet. He explains, “Humour played a huge role. I was like a comedian on the door trying to de-escalate situations. It’s perfect training for social media.”
As a millennial, growing up in an era when social media was both born and then rapidly mutated, Corcoran found himself drawn to this new and exciting platform, later studying a marketing course and landing roles at Leinster Rugby and betting operation Paddy Power-Betfair.
All relatively tame until he joined Ryanair and encountered the rowdy, often-agitated customers choosing to fly with a low-cost airline.
Rather than appease displeased passengers, Corcoran wanted to try something different.
He wanted to poke the bear.
Speaking to the Daily Mail, Corcoran discusses the average Ryanair passenger – and their common complaints. He told the newspaper “Mostly the problems people have with Ryanair are because they don’t read the terms and conditions”, Going on to say, ‘They feel they have the right to complain even though they paid for what they got.
Corcoran’s method was to pull complainants up for their own mistakes. On things you can’t quite deny when faced with facts, such as paying for a seat and expecting a window.
You don’t need to go as far as the T&Cs to realise a seat and a window are two separate things.
Corcoran and his team thrived on – and continue to thrive on – pointing the obvious out.
The beauty is, they remain blameless.
As Cocoran explains, “If it was an actual problem that was our fault, customer service would get involved.”
Thus, absolving the social team of blame, consequence or having to right wrongs.
It proved to be a high-risk strategy that seriously paid off, with Ryanair’s social media account now amassing more than 2.3 million followers on TikTok alone.
Speaking to Irish newspaper Kilkenny Live, Corcoran said “The beauty about social media is when you put it out there the audience will decide whether it’s good or not, and if it’s not, that’s okay because the beauty is social media moves on so fast.”
Of course, in a fast world, your sassy comebacks need to be faster.
“You can’t waste their time [the audience]” he told the Daily Mail. “You have to perfect the art of the one-liner and reply in under three minutes.”
Too slow to respond and you open yourself to ridicule.
Not that Corcoran is against a good roasting. In fact, mockery is exactly what he embraced when he started at Ryanair.
Summarising to Kilkenny Live how he reinvented Ryanair’s social presence from stock-standard to the sassiest brand on the planet, Corcoran reveals its simplicity:
