Ryanair vs JetBlue - reflecting company culture

— Published February 28th, 2007  |  by David Moore

Homepages

“CHEAP FLIGHTS” screams the title of the Ryanair homepage, and cheesy animated gifs and a hugely cluttered design echo that cheap feeling.

Just to ram home the message, the button you click to submit a search is named “Search for cheap flights”. Just “Search”would have done, but it seems there’s some careful management of your expectations at work here.

If everything says cheap and looks cheap, you can hardly complain about the service when you fly with them.

In contrast, JetBlue have a clean and uncluttered homepage, with simple navigation and a modern and professional feel.

You want service with that?

In the Travel Questions section of the Ryanair site, the answer to a question about contact details includes the terse: “To view your local call centre number and opening times please click on the contact us section on our website.”

They should have just included the contact numbers here, and saved you a click, except “click on the contact us section” doesn’t even include a link – you have to use the main navigation.

And don’t try calling to complain about your experience – you have to send a letter (in English, which might be a bit inconvenient for people who fly from Rome to Stockholm, or from Bremen to Girona, for example).

Over at JetBlue, the Help section looks genuinely helpful and there’s a simple online form for complaints (or ‘concerns’ as the upbeat site has it) – including a checkbox for if your flight is within 24 hours, which presumably helps in triaging the completed forms.

There's also a stories page, where you can hear some JetBlue related anecdotes from passengers (complete with funky animations) or submit your own. It sounds cheesy (and it is), but it builds the image of an airline that treats you well.

Ryanair offers something similar, but in a blunt and not very persuasive style: .

Book it, Dano

So is it really a surprise that Ryanair doesn’t do well in the homepage and customer service area? What about actually booking a flight?

It’s straightforward until you get to the summary of the flights you’ve booked. The two columns for the pricing/fare rules information make it hard to see the total price at a glance.

Then the passenger information page is full of charges (that weren’t on the previous page). You’re charged per bag if you’re checking luggage, but you’re also charged for express check-in if you’re not checking any bags – so you’ve no option but to pay one or other of the charges.

There are also charges for infants (who don’t get a baggage allowance), possible sports equipment charges, ‘we just don’t like you’ charges (OK, I made that one up), and the hawking of Ryanair’s insurance.

So in the end the simple (and cheap) booking process gets messy and more expensive. It’s not quite a bait and switch, although it does feel you’re being shoddily treated, which is not a good way to start.

JetBlue’s process is simpler and easier to follow, with clear headings (‘Who’s Flying’, ‘Who’s Buying’). You’re done quickly, and there are no nasty surprises.

Both airlines have a progress bar to show where you are in the process, but neither of them work as navigation to allow you to go back if you’ve forgotten anything or made a mistake.

What do you expect?

Maybe Ryanair can't help the way their website is because, like people and their dogs, the website and the company have come to resemble one another in every respect.

The website says, ‘You’re not paying much, and you get what you pay for’. JetBlue, on the other hand, use their site to communicate their company’s stated aim of “Bringing humanity back to air travel”.

JetBlue recently had big problems when a snow storm left passengers stuck on aircraft for hours, and confusion and lack of information reigned. However, they’ve managed to turn even that PR disaster round with a new Customers Charter, honest apologies and plans to change their procedures.

On the other hand, almost every Ryanair customer literally starts their journey on the website, making it a significant part of their experience with the company. And for Ryanair, it's a chance to start changing people's perceptions about what type of company they are. Instead, they reinforce those perceptions.

The Ryanair website is a wasted opportunity - instead of making their website a showpiece of simplicity and functionality, they've made it an eyesore that looks like a used car salesman's idea of good design.