SAS furious over Ryanair ‘lies’
Scandinavian airline SAS accuses its low-fair competitor Ryanair for using “dirty-tricks” and “false” price comparisons.
| Related news: • Airline SAS to slash prices • Scandinavian airline SAS to cut 1,500 jobs |
Ryanair said Monday it had showed a SAS’ director how to save money by picking the Irish low-cost airline instead of the Scandinavian airline. Ryanair claims Claus Sonberg, SAS Group's Director of Communication and Executive Vice President, saved 1,400 Norwegian kroner (€160, $240) by “snapping up Ryanair’s low fares instead of SAS’s very high fares”.
“We welcome Claus Sonberg to the world of low fares air travel. Hopefully SAS will now understand why millions of passengers opt for Ryanair’s low fares over their high fares", Ryanair's spokesperson Stephen McNamara said.
The move made the SAS executives furious. The price comparison is “false” and “misleading” the company, half-owned by Sweden, Norway and Denmark, said in an unusually exasperated announcement.
“Once Claus Sonberg had landed at London Stansted though, Ryanair - in its continuous dirty-trick style - sent out a press release with inaccurate information”, the company wrote. “This is Ryanair's third misleading press release regarding SAS in the past three months”.
According to SAS, Ryanair has refused its original offer of free flights to SAS' board members to experience the "low-service airline”. Therefore, Claus Sonberg made a journey with Ryanair which could be followed via Facebook and Twitter.
SAS also accused Ryanair of trying to interfere at the company’s social network pages, under fake names.
“On SAS' Facebook account, a Fletcher Reede kept updating with Ryanair messages. Ironically, Fletcher Reede is Jim Carrey's character who cannot stop lying in the 1996 movie Liar, Liar”, SAS wrote in its statement.
According Claus Sonberg, he paid 1,564 kroner, including checked in luggage, priority boarding and SMS confirmation. The corresponding flight with SAS would have cost 1,918 kronor.
“A saving of 354 kroner does not equate well to all the extra hours of travelling when flying with Ryanair. I had to get up before 6am Oslo time to be in London for a meeting at 1pm, local time," said Claus Sonberg.
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Last Updated (Monday, 21 September 2009 18:53)
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