{"id":256230,"date":"2024-08-22T11:39:02","date_gmt":"2024-08-22T11:39:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/2024\/08\/22\/ryanair-ceo-in-war-of-words-with-wizz-after-labeling-unlimited-flight-deal-a-scam\/"},"modified":"2025-06-25T17:11:55","modified_gmt":"2025-06-25T17:11:55","slug":"ryanair-ceo-in-war-of-words-with-wizz-after-labeling-unlimited-flight-deal-a-scam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/2024\/08\/22\/ryanair-ceo-in-war-of-words-with-wizz-after-labeling-unlimited-flight-deal-a-scam\/","title":{"rendered":"Ryanair CEO in war of words with Wizz after labeling unlimited flight deal a &#8216;scam&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> [ad_1]<br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/fortune.com\/img-assets\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/GettyImages-2163234509-e1724324414280.jpg?w=2048\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Outspoken Ryanair CEO Michael O\u2019Leary has gotten himself into a war of worlds with rival budget airline Wizz Air, after questioning the value of the group\u2019s new deal which gives passengers <a href=\"https:\/\/fortune.com\/europe\/2024\/08\/15\/wizz-air-bets-on-unlimited-flights-for-e499-to-woo-frugal-passengers-but-theres-a-catch\/\" target=\"_self\" aria-label=\"Go to https:\/\/fortune.com\/europe\/2024\/08\/15\/wizz-air-bets-on-unlimited-flights-for-e499-to-woo-frugal-passengers-but-theres-a-catch\/\" class=\"sc-93594058-0 hoNHBb\" rel=\"noopener\">unlimited flights<\/a> for \u20ac499 a year.<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Speaking to Irish radio station Newstalk <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=RuEiOIYtgD4&amp;t=2s\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"Go to https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=RuEiOIYtgD4&amp;t=2s\" rel=\"noopener\" class=\"sc-93594058-0 hoNHBb\">last week<\/a>, O\u2019Leary dismissed Wizz\u2019s landmark Europe offer as \u201ca bit of a marketing scam,\u201d saying Ryanair would never consider introducing it.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou can fly as often as you like, but you pay \u20ac9 every time you book a flight and you can only book the flight three days before departure,\u201d he told Newstalk.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMost of the flight will be full, there\u2019ll be no seat availability.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s an interesting marketing stunt but that\u2019s all it is.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPeople will still recognize that if you really want a low fare across Europe, whether in Wizz markets or in Ireland, you\u2019ll book Ryanair.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Wizz Air\u2019s unlimited flights<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Wizz announced the deal last week, offering spontaneous travelers the chance to rack up air miles across Europe at a discount.<\/p>\n<p>However, there are a number of conditions. Flights can only be booked within 72 hours of departure, and they will still have to pay a booking fee of \u20ac9.99 on each flight.<\/p>\n<p>A new EU Entry\/Exit scheme, expected to be introduced in the Autumn, will reportedly force airlines to register their passengers 48 hours before a flight, potentially shortening the window in which passengers can use their benefits.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking to Newstalk on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=mlm_SNTWRG4\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"Go to https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=mlm_SNTWRG4\" rel=\"noopener\" class=\"sc-93594058-0 hoNHBb\">Tuesday<\/a>, Yvonne Moynihan, chief corporate and ESG Officer at Wizz Air, denounced O\u2019Leary\u2019s remarks on the deal.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe comments of Mr. O\u2019Leary were not only provocative, but they were also inaccurate, she said.<\/p>\n<p>Moynihan says its \u20ac499 subscription sold out \u201calmost immediately\u201d after being offered to the public last week.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Questioned on whether there would even be seats available within the 72-hour window, Moynihan said it would be unlikely a flight would be sold out, with an average \u201cload factor\u201d of between 90% and 95%.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>A representative for Ryanair didn\u2019t immediately respond to <em>Fortune\u2019s <\/em>request for comment.<\/p>\n<p>One area where Ryanair and Wizz Air are aligned is on a burdensome passenger cap at Dublin Airport.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>O\u2019Leary spent much of his interview with Newstalk decrying the 32 million-person annual cap at Ryanair\u2019s main airport, given it has capacity for 60 million after a second runway was introduced in 2022.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>He indicated in June that Ryanair would <a href=\"https:\/\/fortune.com\/europe\/2024\/06\/13\/michael-oleary-fortune-christmas-1080-tickets-passenger-cap-ryanair-main-airport-dublin\/\" target=\"_self\" aria-label=\"Go to https:\/\/fortune.com\/europe\/2024\/06\/13\/michael-oleary-fortune-christmas-1080-tickets-passenger-cap-ryanair-main-airport-dublin\/\" class=\"sc-93594058-0 hoNHBb\" rel=\"noopener\">\u201cmake a fortune\u201d<\/a> this Christmas, blaming local authority Fingal County Council for giving into NIMBYism from locals.<\/p>\n<p>Wizz Air\u2019s Moynihan said the airline, which doesn\u2019t operate flights in Ireland, had no plans to change this until the passenger cap was lifted.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>[ad_2]<br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/fortune.com\/europe\/2024\/08\/22\/ryanair-ceo-michael-oleary-gets-into-war-of-words-with-wizz-air-after-slamming-e499-unlimited-flight-deal-as-a-scam\/\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[ad_1] Outspoken Ryanair CEO Michael O\u2019Leary has gotten himself into a war of worlds with rival budget airline Wizz Air, after questioning the value of<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":256231,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[149],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256230"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=256230"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256230\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/256231"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=256230"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=256230"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=256230"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}