IT’S THE airline people love to hate, but Ryanair still manages to generate a huge amount of repeat business, according to an internal customer satisfaction survey carried out by the airline in March.
The survey shows that more than 97 per cent of passengers who flew Ryanair have every intention of using the airline again.
Unsurprisingly, it suggests price is the single biggest reason people chose to fly Ryanair, with 80 per cent of people citing it as the main factor in their decision. The next most popular reason given was the location of the airport of departure or arrival, which 56 per cent of those polled said was a main factor influencing their decision.
The survey also found that in spite of the downturn, some 50 per cent of Ryanair passengers had flown at least four times over the last 12 months, while the number who had taken at least three return flights over the same period stood at 37.5 per cent.
The company has come in for considerable flak for some of its pricing policies, with many people criticising it for the high costs associated with checking in bags and its refusal to allow passengers to board aircraft with more than one piece of hand luggage.
Despite the criticism, its policies appear to have had the desired effect on passengers and there has been a significant increase in the numbers travelling with just one piece of hand luggage.
Ryanair’s customer service department polled 2,894 passengers in March and found 70 per cent travelled with just hand baggage. The airline claimed this had seen waiting time for people checking in bags diminish significantly. Some 70 per cent of people who checked in bags said they queued for less than 15 minutes to do so. It found that 8 per cent of passengers had waited more than 30 minutes to check in bags.
The company has been castigated frequently by consumer groups and even the courts for the €40 penalty it imposes on passengers who do not check in online and print out their own boarding passes.
When the company introduced this charge in May 2009, it said it was being done to encourage passengers to arrive at the airport with their card pre-printed, and the move appears to have worked. The survey found 99 per cent of those polled said they had checked in online and printed out their boarding passes.