A survey on services provided by some of the UK's most prominent brands puts Ryanair in the last place.
"Greedy" and "arrogant". These were the adjectives most commonly used by British consumers to describe low-cost airline Ryanair, which was ranked last in a survey conducted by Which, that aimed to gain an insight into public opinion on 100 relevant brands in the UK market.
According to data collected by Which, reported on by the BBC this Friday, the level of consumer satisfaction with the company stands at 45%, a result that puts Ryanair at the bottom of the table. However, this result is not a huge surprise to those who have seen the survey in previous years: the airline operator is in exactly the same place it has occupied for the past six years.
The news comes at a time when Ryanair employees in both Portugal and the UK are on strike, as they hope to achieve pay increases and better working conditions.
The Portuguese strike, called by the National Union of Civil Aviation Flight Staff (SNPVAC), extends until Sunday. Minimum services have been decreed by the Government, covering flights travelling to the Azores, Madeira, Berlin, Cologne, London, and Paris.
The survey was conducted with 4000 consumers, who were asked to rate brands based on three criteria - how the company makes them feel, how attentive and prepared the employees were in their experiences, and how the company handles complaints.
Other airlines did not do very well either, though not as badly as Ryanair: British Airways ranked 83rd and EasyJet 79th out of 100.
First in British consumer appreciation was online banking First Direct, followed by Lakeland, a chain that sells kitchenware, and then Marks & Spencer in third.
