Stop treating passengers like cattle

by Chris Johnson. Published Sun 15 Mar 2009 12:16

Ryanair is developing a "love-hate" relationship with its customers. We LOVE the "low prices" and the reliable, frequent flights. We HATE the fact that we are hassled and conned and treated like cattle.

Ryanair's boss Tony O'Leary needs a reality check. He is wrong if he thinks he can take his passengers for granted, treat them like dirt and they will keep coming back for more.

The airline is currently holding a competition, with a 1000 pounds prize, for the best idea for the next "discretionary charge" that they can impose. O'Leary threatened to charge one pound-a-time to use the in-flight toilets, now he thinks it's hilarious to laugh at the suggestion that he might charge 25 quid to use the emergency exit. It won't be funny when a Ryanair plane crashes, as one day it inevitably will.

Perhaps a little more immediately disturbing is the behaviour of the powers-that-be Liverpool John Lennon Airport.

I was very annoyed at a few things we encountered when we travelled to Italy last weekend, so I'll share them with you.

Worst of all was the attitude of the staff who were on duty carrying-out the final checks at the gate before passengers embarked on the plane.

We were kept waiting/standing for more than 20 minutes....okay we accept that.

But what was quite disgusting and outrageous was the conduct of two members of the ground staff - one female, one male.

The woman, aged around 40, made it her business to march up and down the waiting line of passengers looking for carry-on bags that they suspected were not of the requisite dimensions. We are talking here of bags that might be a few centimeters outside the specified shape to fit into the cage of the bag checker.

They would then be marched to the head of the queue and humiliated in front of 100+ fellow-passengers into trying to demonstrate their bag would fit. Some elderly passengers struggled to extract tight-fit bags once they had passed muster. There was NO help from the staff.

Even if we accept that it is fair for the staff to check that cases are of the correct dimensions, what was not acceptable was the downright rude attitude of the staff involved. The uniformed woman acted more like a Nazi concentration camp guard than a person employed to help and assist paying customers! She should be severely reprimanded.

The airport needs to inform its staff that paying customers must be treated with respect and courtesy.

But I tend to think that the rude behaviour of junior employees derives from the corporate mind-set at the airport.

This is typified by the fact that they try to charge 3 pounds to passengers for use a so-called Fast Track through security.

Very few people pay the charge, but that no-doubt plants a seed in the minds of the staff that the passengers are somehow not "paying the asking price" and therefore they have carte blanche to treat them like dirt.

There are a lot of other irritating and annoying flaws in the airport service offering.

The drop-off system where each car has to enter the airport short stay car park is designed to try to catch-out people and get them to pay 2 pounds for staying more than 15 minutes. Woe betide anyone who needs to take some time to help an aged companion with their luggage.

That is after you have approached the car park which has two nasty speed humps in the road in the approach to the entry barriers. These are completely unnecessary and should be removed.

Leave aside the rip-off prices for snack and drinks in the airport, there is the issue that the place is - in parts - very dirty.

Worst of all are the areas containing the walkway ramps that are the first point of the building entered by new arrivals.

They appear never to be cleaned, a fact that is evidenced by the coating of grime, old litter lodged in nooks and crannies and the blobs of chewing-gum dotted everywhere on the ground.

Finally, all taxi drivers at the airport are forced to explain that there is a 1 pound Airport Surcharge, payable by the passenger, on top of the fare shown on the meter. The taxi driver, when asked, will then explain that it is the money-grabbing airport that is at fault and not him.

What an unfortunate welcome for visitors to our city.

Liverpool John Lennon Airport needs to sharpen-up its act. It is a real asset to our great city. But, thanks to some penny-pinching policies and poor customer relations, it is often manages to quite the opposite!