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Airlines in dispute“Marketing fraud”: Ryanair criticizes Wizz Air’s annual pass
Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary doubts the success of Wizz Air’s new “all you can fly” annual pass, saying it’s a pure marketing gimmick.
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Low-cost airline Wizz Air offers an “All You Can Fly” annual pass for around 475 francs.
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Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary criticized the offer as an ineffective “marketing ploy” and doubted its viability.
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Wizz Air rejects the criticism and insists on quick sales of subscriptions and seat availability.
Low-cost airline Wizz Air’s bold package offer has not gone down well with rivals. Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary criticized the competition’s “all you can fly” annual pass for around 475 francs in a radio interview. O’Leary even described it as a “marketing ploy”.
“All You Can Fly”?
A few days ago, Hungarian low-cost airline Vis Air launched its “All You Can Fly” program for 800 routes in more than 50 countries.
Cost of Jetset for one year: 499 euros (about 475 francs) for the first 10,000 customers. According to the Wizz Air website, all subscriptions are already sold out. You still can’t fly for free: “After your first flight, you only pay a flat fee per segment,” Wizz Air says on its website.
Where’s the catch?
From September, flights cannot be booked more than 72 hours before the scheduled departure. This means: Availability of seats is not guaranteed.
This could become even more problematic when the EU’s Entry/Exit System (EES) comes into effect this autumn, as airlines must provide passenger details 48 hours before departure or face fines.
In an interview with Irish radio station Newstalk, the Ryanair boss said his airline would never consider such an offer. In his analysis, Wizz Air’s idea did not work in practice. “You can fly whenever you want, but every time you book a flight you pay a fee of nine euros, and you can only book a flight three days before departure. Most flights are fully booked and seats are not available. It’s an interesting marketing ploy, but that’s all.” O’Leary predicted.
Wizz says annual subscriptions sell out very quickly and flights are unlikely to be fully booked, with occupancy typically at 90 to 95 percent.
IMAGO/BihlmayerfotografieWiz disagrees
“Ultimately, customers will realize they book Ryanair if they are looking for a really cheap flight within Europe, on Wizz routes or within Ireland.”
Wizz responded to O’Leary’s comments shortly after: CEO Yvonne Moynihan called Ryanair’s comments “not only provocative, but inaccurate”.
According to Moynihan, annual subscriptions sold out “almost immediately” after the news became public. Asked if seats would be available within the 72-hour window, Moynihan said it was unlikely that a flight would sell out, with an average “occupancy rate” of 90 to 95 percent.
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