10 point plan on what Ryanair should have done

1. Have an official web social page (owned by the corporation)

As it is said in the article, the "official" facebook Ryanair page isn't officially owned by the corporation. This company needs to centralize all kinds of social media tools (mostly Facebook and Twitter) in order to interact efficiently with their customers.

2. Do not be emotionally involved concerning an issue

 The response made by the CEO of Ryanair which said that the mother paid the price of her "stupidity" is quite rude, adding to injury that he doesn't consider at all the opinion of 300 000 people that agree with her. He's underestimating the power of social media and "gloating" about this event will not grant him a good public image, and will have surely a negative impact on Ryanair's image.

3. Be flexible according to the circumstances

When you see the comment made by the mother in which she laments the fact to be charged almost 300 euros for not printing their tickets, and while receiving the backing of more than 300 000 people (who liked the comment of the mother), flexibility is a must. You need to get out of your zone of comfort and "bend the rules", thus not just saying to the customer "this are terms of policies, if you do not comply to them deal with the consequences". You need to adapt yourself to a given situation at all times.

4. Apologize for the inconvenience

I didn't see in the article that the company seem to care about the problem she faced. Offering an apology is the first thing the company should do, instead of "rubbing it in her face" like the CEO did in the interview where he insulted the customer. This is the worst PR you can ever get.

5. See the criticism as an opportunity instead of a threath

As said in the articles, critics are made to better ourselves. Taking in personally like the CEO did was wrong. Not only you need to accept the critic, but you need to see it as an opportunity, to open a debate on some policies, especially when someone points out an "injustice" and receives the backing of so many people, who are potential clients.

6. Scout positive and negative rewiews of Ryanair in the Web

The only way to better yourself is to know yourself. Know your strenghts but also your weaknesses. What areas of improvement can we propose to the customers? The best way to find out is to get to know their customer experience in the flights (before getting in to the plane, during and after as follow up is important too). The Web has too much information so creating google alerts seems a good plan in order to spot on those reviews.

7. Get to know the client and their needs

As said in the articles, in order to have "human contact" you need to get to know your customer so he doesn't feel like talking to a machine. Engage the customer in a friendly and comprehensive manner. If the customer see some empathy and you aknowledge their situation and try to find a solution, her anger will pass and they might just like your reactivity.

8. Offer a long term solution to this particular issue

Since more than 300 000 people and potential customers seemed to agree with the injustice faced by the mother, maybe Ryanair should consider changing its policy regarding the penalty fee of not bringing the printed flight booking. It's just common sense, being stubborn and sticking with policies that nobody seem to agree on, especially your customers, will only have bad consequences in the long term.

9. Keep the talk open and keep posted your customers

People want to see if a particular issue has been solved or not, so it would be good to keep the conversation in total transparency. Indeed if the final solution would be the reconsideration of reducing or not applying a penaly fee for not printing this paper and finding another solution (if the check-in is made by internet, implement a software that would not need a printed ticket in order to get in the plane but just ID and confidential number code for example), most of the people would be interested knowing that.

10 . Create a forum "idea box" for a great customer experience with RyanAir

The company, maybe in their official website should register the comments of their guests, asking them what did they enjoy on the flight or what they didn't. This company need to create customer relationship management in order to thrive in the future, as customers look constantly for quality even if it's remain "cheap" flights. We all look for comfort and implementing this could be a good thing to analyze the strenghts and weaknesess of the service transmitted by the company. In this case, the company can apprehend a problem instead of facing it.