Ryanair: with or without frills?
Ryanair has begun a crack-down on publications, including TravelMole and the Telegraph, which still refer to it as a "no-frills" airline.
The airline’s head of communications Robin Kiely has written to various editors insisting that they remove any references to the term "no-frills" in Ryanair coverage.
He argues that because it now offers services like "reserved seating, priority boarding, leather seats and on-board catering", it no longer falls under the category of "no-frills", even though passengers have to pay extra for most of these frills.
He said although Ryanair now objects to the term "no-frills", it would still like to be described as a "low-cost" airline.
TravelMole has not yet made an editorial decision and would like to know the views of its subscribers.
When it contacted rival easyJet, a spokeswoman said it had no objection to being called "no-frills", but would prefer to be referred to as "low-fares" or "low-cost"
She said easyJet had evolved since its early "no frills" days and now offered various "frills", but she agreed it was still not comparable to a full service airline.
Do you think Ryanair is no longer a "no-frills" airline? Do you think it is a "low-cost" airline?
Please share your views by clicking on POST YOUR COMMENT below, and by taking part in our Mole Poll.
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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