BBC Presenter Tells Ryanair Boss to Grow Up

[Vortillion]

The BBC Watchdog presenter Nicky Campbell asked M'OL whether "it was time he grew up now that he's playing with the big boys."

M'OL was given an opportunity to respond to several complaints from customers but just brushed them off with crap statistics. When asked why Ryanair never answer the phone he was reported to say "because they keep you on the bloody phone all day!" Absolutely priceless.

M'OL has done a fine job of creating the airline, but he's now a liability. Perhaps the Ryan's need a more conciliatory MD for the next stage? :)

[Evo7]

I thought that MO'L was better than the passengers - "We've paid £19 for this flight, but there was a problem and the flight was cancelled. We demand free hotels, hire cars and a BA ticket back home...."

<slap, slap, slap>

You get what you pay for, chaps....

MO'L didn't sound good, mind. Just better than the passengers :)

[Avenger]

Why can't these consumer police stop knocking the low cost airlines? Maybe £20 should be added to each ticket just to have a fund to compensate the wingers... we would still be much cheaper than the competition... and folks would still travel.
It's totally wrong to give a 4 minute slagging and expect any CEO to take it on the chin.
This type of irresponsible reporting will cost jobs in the long run.
The industry and staff should support MOL on this one
P**s O*f watchdog

[Dan Dare]

Customer Service? Not at these prices!

I think it might pay dividends for return business to consideer the customer (and the staff!)

Loved Roger Bacon's Straight and Level in Flight today....

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[ 15 January 2002: Message edited by: Dan Dare ]</p>

[Vortillion]

Evo/Avenger

Quite right you get what you pay for, I don't dispute that. But the vast majority of the travelling public don't understand the economics of the low cost business model.

If I owned Ryanair I wouldn't allow that rabid pitbull (dressed like a forty-something student) onto national TV to explain the facts. He's clearly incapable of diplomacy and therefore a liability. Just because he was correct it doesn't mean he had to say so! Fun to watch though. <img src="tongue.gif" border="0">

[touch&go]

This is why I stopped watching this gutter, cheap and trash excuse for TV, this program has created a real Watchdog mentality were everyone shouts the odds about there rights, and sue anyone, and thing at a drop of a hat, as for Nicky Campbell, he interviews people and doesn’t listen to there answers, then finishes off the interview with a below the belt comment without giving the interviewee an opportunity to answer.

I am not a Ryanair employee, just someone who hate’s this program and the way it has changed the British people………..treating people with respect, good manners with ‘please and thank you’ I find gets me most thing sorted out.

I’ll get of my soapbox now.

[andy.summers]

I once watched a Watchdog film crew doing an article on kiddies' clubs in a holiday hotel trying to cajole 3 and 4 year olds to say things that would be damaging to the tour operator. Happily the said kids didn't say the right thing, and the report was never shown, but it demonstrates the depths to which this licence-payer-funded junk programme will go.

Unfortunately I missed tonight's episode. However can't say I'm a great fan of either Watchdog or Ryanair!

[eeper]

Can't say that I'm a huge fan of Ryanair, but I agree with most of the posts that Watchdog has gone downhill in recent years. Nicky Campbell seems to prefer a soundbite, Kilroy-esque kind of program to any sort of serious reporting. Some of the closing lines on reports are positively cringe-worthy...

I think that we are in a transition period. People are used to the sort of extras that you get with the big carriers (hotels if your flight is delayed, backup aircraft etc.) and haven't figured out that you cannot expect this for twenty quid. When people realise this some will return to BA and BM while others will take the risk and stick to the lowcosts. It will take time , but I suspect that the two styles of operation can co-exist.

[dallas dude]

Slightly off the subject I know but anyway several years ago Watchdog did a "skit" on the fact that my brother's house/back garden, having been built on the site of the old incinerator at what was previously RAF Chessington, "Was a hazardous waste site and what was the developer going to do about it?".

Sadly, my brother took these people at their word when they said they truly were interested in helping the "little guy".

The show ended up being complete bo**ocks and four years later my brother's still waiting for resolution!

MOL is probably still laughing all the way to the bank for the free advertising! Thanks Watchdog!

(a dog with no 'nads ain't no watchdog!)

[dik dastardly]

Can't say I'm a big fan of MOL. Ryanair is only low cost if it suits them ie if you want to travel when they are giving out promo's. However you can't blame him for exploiting the masses who assume that a low cost profile means its always the cheapest option. MOL has said it often enough for the public to believe it..no point in them crying wolf if it turns out it wasn't the deal they thought it was. However MOL's profile is becoming worrying arrogant in a marketplace with some high quality low cost alternatives. It'll be interesting to see who comes out top of the low cost tree.

[David Hurst]

The likes of Watchdog (and You and Yours on Radio 4) have different priorities to the consumer. The first priority is to keep the viewer's interest by having 'good' television. Their second priority is to find enough nasty rip-off merchants to fill the time available - and hopefully fed from the audience rather than finding their own. Their third is to keep themselves in jobs and hopefully go on to something better. Then, and only then, are they interested in the consumer.
By all means get them involved in your problem but recognise where they are coming from and use them rather than the reverse.

[twistedenginestarter]

I thought the interview was very valuable. For the first time I can remember, someone (MOL) specifically stated that no frills actually means no fairly fundamental things. For example, MOL said he will by and large ignore your attempts to complain.

Even worse he accepted that your ticket is not reliable ie it's pot luck whether you will actually make the journey within a couple of days of what's on your ticket. That is really quite serious to most people.

Against that he claimed, and he convinced me, that average ticket price is £35. That is staggeringly low. I just wouldn't have expected that. I can't see how BA can live with that in the long run.

[52049er]

Was I the only one to notice his ...ahem... 'interesting' use of statistics -

"Last year BA sold 45 million tickets at an average price of £185. We sold 10 million at an average price of £35. That means every person that bought a Ryanair ticket saved £150".

Indeed. Exactly how much does Ryanair charge for a return to SYD?

Shame NC didnt ask about his alleged non payment of landing charges.

I have nothing against the cheapo's at all - but the sooner consumers understand why their ticket is so cheap (ie no accom, tough if your a/c is tech etc etc) the better, if only to stop people moaning to such programmes.

[Trinity 09L]

The interviewer tries to perform like Anne Robinson, but I am afriad he is the weakest link in the program, losing his cool and pen wagging. He has not been a success story for the Beeb. Has he the ability to run an airline? Interesting to establish if he has ever travelled on a budget airline, though I suspect not and always on tax payers executive/first or freebies. <img src="tongue.gif" border="0">

[leander]

I came across Watchdog's investigative integrity some years ago. Shortly after I had changed airlines I was contacted and asked to 'confirm' that I had left the previous job due to their allegedly poor safety record. Fortunately I had some of my wits about me and managed not to say anything that could be misquoted. I then contacted the previous Chief Pilot who's legal department threatened action against the BBC that very day. Needless to say the article was dumped.

[bow5]

Nicky Campbell is a mis-informed prat. You only have to listen to the guys radio program to know that.

I've never heard one man spout so much total bulls**t everytime he goes on air!!

People think too much nowadays. The bare facts are that if you pay £20 for an airline ticket then you live with the consequences. Gees, I paid £20 for a 15 mile taxi ride the other night.

Get some bloody perspective!!

[danfulton]

I though MOL handled Nicky Campbell quite well - stated that if you write in with a complaint it will be dealt with in 24 hours and a response sent.

Another item on Watchdog last night was about the scandal that restaurants charge more for wine than supermarkets.

Do you think they are desperately looking for targets??

[expedite_climb]

Slightly off topic but .. - last year watchdog ran an article on some pigs that had to live in straw covered in mud and s***. Now come on - really !!

[sgt.culpepper]

Don't you just love it! A presenter who talks just as much bull**** as Mo'L.Avenger, about "a CEO expected to take it on the chin" . Well Mo'L has been dishing it out for years and like all bullies when he is on the recieving end ,he can't take it.Vortillion,if N.C is incapable of diplomacy where does that leave Mo'L with his well known personal attacks on anyone that gets in his way including an appalling onslaught on a Government minister in Ireland. She , of course is making him pay dearly for it now by blocking his plans for a deal at DUB.
52049er, you have it spot on. Mo'L is a master at quoting statistics to effect a totally misleading conclusion.Nicky C, well N.C may be mis informed and that is inexcusable, Mo'L however is well informed yet choses to misinform . There is a world of a difference.

[5711N0205W]

Nicky Campbell started out as breakfast DJ on Northsound Radio in Aberdeen quite a few years ago and was widely regarded as a prat then. Someone who can make Anne (Botox) Robinson look like a good presenter must be awful.
His interviewing style has always been to have the louder voice and talk over the interviewee. not a great advert for BBC integrity in journalism, but a good example of dumbing down at work!

[brabazon]

OK so it's official Ryanair offers C*** service at Cheap Prices (well some are cheap)

It could be argued that if you've only paid £10 or £20 for your ticket you shouldn't expect any backup if the flight is cancelled etc, but given the way their yield management works you could have paid over £150 for the same flight - should you not expect some service then?

Maybe all passengers should take out a form of insurance when flying low cost, but then what premium would an insurance company charge if you fly with Ryanair, given the comments of M O'L?

[ 16 January 2002: Message edited by: brabazon ]

[ 16 January 2002: Message edited by: brabazon ]</p>

[newswatcher]

Definitely not enough time allowed for this item. At some stage MOL was responding(I think) to the criticism of the person "stranded" in France until the next Ryanair flight several days later. He said (rough figures) that of the 180 passengers, Ryanair put 120 on alternative flights. Waited in vain for the explanation as to why the other 60, including complainant, were left to their own devices.

Thought you might like this:

"ULTRA-SMOOTH host Nicky Campbell broadcast his Radio 5 show from Kidderminster yesterday(16/5). Earnestly debating election issues, he invited a contribution from the floor. "It's all very well talking about a sense of community," said a member of the audience, "but your flies are undone . . ."

...and this:

"He(Campbell) has been tried out on Newsnight and Panorama, but his background as a disc jockey has made him a target for rivals who question his credentials.

He denies that this hurts, but there is no doubt that he is profoundly ambitious and wants to be taken seriously as a current affairs presenter."

and

"Campbell, who was adopted by a map publisher and a psychiatric social worker and brought up in Edinburgh, is no push-over in the career game."

and who can forget that cultural masterpiece - "Wheel of Fortune"!

[Desk Driver]

I'm no fan of Watchdaog. I remember them sending a bunch of old(er) ladies to McDonalds to complain about the milk for their Tea not being in a Jug????

As for MOL. He is in danger of becoming to avaition what Gerald Ratner was to Jewellery.

[bow5]

Campbell's problem is that he cannot be impartial in an interview as, in my opinion as a licence fee payer, he and every other BBC journalist ought to be. The BBC has become nothing but a mouth piece for the government and the left wing. It no longer reports the news...it gives its opinion, which is wrong.

Campbell frequently shouts over the people he is interviewing and loads both the questions and his language to suit his vantage point. I've virtually given up listening to Radio 5 because it seems to be populated by jerks like him.

Quite frankly, he'd be better off going back to the wheel of fortune...bit more his level.


ps I'm not trying to defend M O'L (I didn't watch the program - Watchdog sucks) cos I don't know enough about him or Ryanair to do so.

[dallas dude]

Give MOL some credit for accepting an audience with the same guy who failed to kick "housewives favourite" Jimmy Young, into touch!

It would've been much more interesting if Jeremy Paxman had interrogated MOL. (I'm thinking of a Michael Parkinson/Rod Hull and emu experience).

Well done that man for spotting the similarities between Gerald Ratner and 'yer man MOL.

[Bright-Ling]

That prat Campbell is indeed, a prat.

I have nothing against MOL, but I think that he is a liability now if they are to continue growing. He is resting on his laurels and as a user of RyanAir I hate that.

Will it stop me flying Ryanair!!? Prob not, for now, but if he continues?!

I wish the public could see that if they wanted a meal/hotel/aircraft on standby in case things go wrong they should pay the extra and go with a bigger carrier such as BA/BMI. Simple.

B-L

[partyreptile]

Dallas Dude; in the spirit of cross-oceanic cooperation and understanding please add an appendix listing all side references with complete explanations, us yanks like jokes too! In said spirit, I will include a section diagraming all references to Elvis. Your public school friend, Partyreptile

[X-QUORK]

I think I'm gonna blow chunks, check this out....

<a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/watchdog/presenters/ncampbell/" target="_blank">http://www.bbc.co.uk/watchdog/presenters/ncampbell/</a>

There are only two people that really p*ss me off, Campbell and that alcoholic witch Robinson - I can feel my blood pressure rising just typing their names. <img src="mad.gif" border="0">