It all started when Jason Roe reported on his blog an insignificant glitch in Ryanair online reservation system. Jason provided screenshots showing “Total Cost of Flight 0.00.”

Few hours later, Jason received the incredible comment from a Ryanair staff member:

jason!
you’re an idiot and a liar!! fact is!
you’ve opened one session then another and requested a page meant for a different session, you are so stupid you dont even know how you did it! you dont get a free flight, there is no dynamic data to render which is prob why you got 0.00. what self respecting developer uses a crappy CMS such as word press anyway AND puts they’re mobile ph number online, i suppose even a prank call is better than nothing on a lonely sat evening!!

Good press can spread fast online. But bad press spreads even faster. Ryanair released an official statement, not only, confirming the company’s involvement, but also insulting Ryan and the blogosphere as a whole.

Ryanair can confirm that a Ryanair staff member did engage in a blog discussion. It is Ryanair policy not to waste time and energy in corresponding with idiot bloggers and Ryanair can confirm that it won’t be happening again.

Lunatic bloggers can have the blog sphere all to themselves as our people are far too busy driving down the cost of air travel.

Unlike Facebook when facing with a case of bad publicity, Ryanair clearly underestimated the shift of power and influence with social media. Bloggers have followers, and followers are ultimately consumers. When Ryanair is “too busy driving down the cost of air travel,” the consumers might just pick another company that cares about its clients.

I am not a Ryanair client but they already lost me!

Other related resources:

• Ryanair - Their Attitude To Online PR Part Of A Bigger Reputation Problem
• Ryanair and the ‘idiot bloggers
• Airline attacks ‘idiot, lunatic’ bloggers
• Ryanair calls blogger lunatic
• Ryanair slams ‘idiot bloggers’ aka, the bloggers’ revenge
• Air Force Blog Assessment:

This post is tagged publicity, Reputation Management, Social Media