I'm Glad I Gave up on Ryanair

I’ve not flown with Ryanair for some time now, as it’s just a horrible experience. They started doing flights to Corfu, where myself and Mrs Bucko often go, so I gave them a try as they were cheaper than Easyjet

The plane was the most cramped I’ve even been on, it was raggy and unkempt and the staff were scruffy, self absorbed and unhelpful. We vowed after that to never bother with them again. Although almost a year later I did, because they came up cheapest again and I’m always trying to save a buck

This time was just as bad as the last. I ordered a toastie off the menu but by the time they had got to us as the back, they only had curries left, so I settled for one of those (Some people say it’s not worth the expense of ordering mediocre food on a plane, but I like to eat whenever I get the chance on flying day

The curry came in cardboard dish filled to the top, with cellophane over it, so when I pulled back the cellophane, I sprayed curry all over the back of the seat in front of me. I then put it down on the tray and it almost slipped off because the tray wasn’t level. I caught it, but still managed to spill some in my lap.

Flying is bad enough without having curry groin

So after that, it was never again. I paid the extra thirty quid for Easyjet for a while and now TUI are doing Corfu. They’re slightly dearer than Easyjet, but the overall experience is better and they have some bigger planes

So that means I can’t boycott Ryanair…

Ryanair boss says unvaccinated should be banned from London Underground and airports over Omicron crisis

What a twat! 

Omicron was the best thing that ever happened to COVID. It’s mild, it’s not killing people, it’s not overwhelming the glorious NHS (May it jab forever), it’s the variant that says we can get back to living our lives as normal

As the new Omicron variant of Covid-19 disrupts international travel plans across the world, airlines are desperately trying to navigate their immediate futures.

Omicrons aren’t disrupting travel, idiot Governments are

One idea put forward by the Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary, in comments he made to The Telegraph, is to simply refuse travel to all unvaccinated people not just on flights but public transport in general, including the London Underground.

What difference would that make? Unvaccinated people (Not polio, see previous post) are a small minority now. You already need a vaccine passport or negative test to fly, so who’s going to be spreading Omicrons on his crappy planes?

“If you’re not vaccinated, you shouldn’t be allowed in the hospital, you shouldn’t be allowed to fly, you shouldn’t be allowed on the London Underground, and you shouldn’t be allowed in the local supermarket or your pharmacy either.”

I must admit, I never pegged him for this kind of authoritarianism. He’s actually suggesting that people be left to die, just because they haven’t taken a vaccine for what is now a fairly mild illness that won’t even display symptoms in most people. I would hope his airline goes bust and he is left destitute, but that would affect a large number of Ryanair employees who don’t think like this

Mr O’Leary continued: “You can sit at home and you know, get your deliveries of medicines and food. But you should not, you know, go to work or go on public transport unless you have a vaccine certificate.

Did he not include hospitals? How to you get your cancer treatment or you know, your surgery delivered to your house? How do you fix a broken leg you know, over the internet you know?

And how will vaccine passports be enforced? The police would have to be on the streets in force, checking everyone’s vaccine passports every five minutes. It’s the only way to be sure, as I assume Mr O’Leary doesn’t want to just trust the unvaccinated to stay at home and use Deliveroo

“We recognise the rights of everybody to decide not to get vaccinated if you so want. If you personally object to vaccination, because it’s some huge government/big pharma conspiracy; apart from the fact that you would be plainly an idiot, we respect your right to be an idiot.”

He clearly respects nobody rights to be an idiot. He wants the unvaccinated to suffer house arrest, which is in no way recognising their rights

He also does not understand the reasons why people might not want to take a vaccine. Sure, there are conspiracy loons out there, but if someone refuses the vaccine because they simply don’t want to take it, that’s their right and they should not be restricted in society for exercising that right

It doesn’t stop you spreading Omicrons and younger, healthier people will be able to fight off any Omicrons they get with their own immune system. ‘I don’t want to take it’, is a valid reason and nothing to do with anyone else. If they are scared of Omicrons, they can take their own vaccine and be protected

Ryanair’s bookings are down by one million this December compared to the same time last year, a drop of 10 per cent, hence Mr O’Leary’s frustration.

Mr O’Learys frustration is being directed in the wrong place. It’s high time we got rid of all restrictions (if they were ever needed) and got back to normal life. It’s the Government stopping us from doing this, not some milder new variant. He should be directing his anger in that direction and pointing out what bellends the Government are being, not turning on a significant minority of the population, dividing people with hatred and potentially alienating a large number of his future customers

With the government refusing to rule out restrictions on non-essential travel in the coming weeks, airlines are pleading with the government for additional measures which will secure thousands of jobs in the aviation and travel industries.

They’re pleading for the wrong thing, just like the pub and club industry who are crying out for rescue packages. Continual lockdowns and bailouts is not the way forward, the money has to run out and following this business model will see those industries collapse and employees on the dole eventually, anyway

They need to be fighting the Government on the need for restrictions at all. If they could all just join forces, they probably would have the power to just tell the Government to fuck off and just continue their businesses as they see fit

That’s the problem with our society though, we don’t fight the Government, even when we could easily win, we just do as we’re told. That’s why we have smoking bans and carrier bag charges

That’s why we’ll be in on/off lockdown forever