our_kid

Free speech is important - the allegations need to be refuted rather and proven then if necessary go through the courts. Ryanair just look like bullies

Petrus

Ryanair reminds me of my current employer (for how long?): more or less everything is on their terms, even in the contract. (Why did I sign? It was the promised land yadda yadda, over sold by the owner) Question it/ask for a reasonable change so that both are happy and the relationship becomes more fruitful, and after a long fight you may get a verbal concession. When you later call them out on the verbal agreement, there is denial "we never said that, the document is what matters"...

All very arbitrary and shady. Keep upsetting people and eventually they bite back.

This is why I never fly Ryanair. They treat people like maggots.

drspear

I have occasionally flown Ryanair and could not question their safety culture one iota

you know what you are paying for ( or not paying for ) and its clear before you buy and fly with them

If they offer a flight from Bratislava to Rome for 20 euro and the nearest main stream airline alternative is 250 euros, then they deserve praise rather than criticism. People still have the choice.

mrtibbs1999

I think there's a difference between people posting "I hate Ryanair" comments and people claiming to have knowledge of serious issues and using those allegations to libel Ryanair. If the people sued can back their statements up them they of course have the defence of fair comment.

I say this as someone who is currently in litigation with them over a different matter. They are very litigious and find no level too low to stoop to!

thegrailer

Only if there is an integration clause

Cheers

drspear

Its the same point though, you know this before you book no frills, as that is their business model.

You get a super cheap fare, but have to give up on almost all expectations bar safety.

Its then down to choice, and you choose them at your own risk, nobody forces you to book Ryanair.

Calchas

The Daily Mail has settled. Let's see if Channel 4 follows.

dc2447

At the risk of getting banned again. Is this true? The FT owners handed over user information to a third party?

That is a really, really serious allegation.

raikje

It sounds like anything IB did was in response to a court order. What would you expect them to do in those circumstances?

dc2447

But it's a civil not a criminal case, right?

The court can't force IB to hand over user data, can they?

I would expect any Internet service to protect my privacy unless criminal law has been broken.

Sam Bee

I think what happened was the changes behind the scenes at PPrune were not made obvious to the users (or the users failed to recognise the importance of the ownership changes). Some could say the same happened on this forum.

It's a Private Pilots Rumour Network - and has a number of closed forums you can only access with proof of your position. It was a place that Pilots would voice concerns over pay / safety / unions etc with other professional pilots - it was set up as a trusted place to chat away - and relatively secure (and the owners would protect the members as they were one and the same - pilots).

But membership exploded, many non-pilots would use it (fuelled by the internet being a quicker source of news than TV / Radio - so for aviation incidents it became a premium source of info for SLF like us, aviation professionals, and journalists). With this spike (1/4 mill members) it came on internet brands radar, and thus could be monetised - which happened when they bought it in 2008.

Their interest is not in wasting money on expensive legal fights with litigious airlines like Ryanair, but to settle up, hush any talk, and move on. Which is fair enough. Unfortunately many of the original members who would expect a degree of anonymity and protection (and may have got it from the original owners) didn't appreciate what a change in ownership would mean, and at the first sign of a lawyer their details would be handed over.

So the lessons learnt are that a) you should never say anything on the internet you wouldn't say in person to another person or to a judge and b) that Pprune has had it's reputation irretrivably damaged in the eyes of many Private Pilots who were shocked at the Etihad / Ryanair issues and no longer use it (largely irrelevant as it's probably got more users and profitability than ever). Maybe one of the BA professionals can confirm that BA pilots barely touch it now?

There were comments that Ryanair used fake identities to access some of the closed forums, but hey ho there is little doubt that Ryanair are dogged in pursuit of their targets in all aspects of their business.

It's easy to slander a company online. I can safely say I won't use Ryanair with my family as I despise them with a passion - not for safety reasons but I won't put my family through the stress of having to play the system. But with the quantity of flights they operate I would never worry about their safety record.

The one thing they have copied from Stelios is the phrase "If you think safety is expensive, try an accident".

One thing we all know about BA though is that the pilots have a no-blame attitude to reporting safety concerns and issues. This is overwhelmingly positive. However Ryanair have sacked a senior pilot for raising these concerns in the press and are now considering sueing him for defamation! My presumption would be as a non-pilot (along with many readers) is that he should have been able to report and raise this internally and move on. Why did this not happen?!

Anyway - this is a good read:http://www.forbes.com/sites/johngogl...d-know-better/

And before this thread is closed / banished / deleted don't forget Ryanair have said they have "no objection to honest, objective and legitimate comment" I agree with them when they say "Ryanair’s safety is on a par with the safest airlines in Europe".

Disco Volante

Yes.

dc2447

a civil court in a libel / slander case can ask a service provider to hand over user details?

dc2447

Thanks Sam, very useful

paulwuk

Better for who?