Chief executive of the European low-cost giant Ryanair, Michael O’Leary, has long held a reputation for his wit and in some cases short temper.
After getting hit in the face with a pie by environmental activists during a speech in Brussels in 2023, O’Leary wiped the remnants off his face and said how much he “love[s] cream cakes.”
To mess with President Donald Trump over the choice to impose tariffs on Ireland, O’Leary said that Ryanair would cancel its order of Boeing planes and instead do business with the Chinese government-owned Comac if the offer “was cheap enough.”
Ryanair responds to Elon Musk’s insults with ‘Great Idiots’ sale
The latest target of Ryanair and O’Leary’s mockery became Elon Musk; in an interview with The India Times, the latter called the Tesla entrepreneur turned right-wing activist and prominent supporter of Donald Trump a “very wealthy, but […] still an idiot.”
The Ryanair social media team also mocked the fact that X went down on Jan. 14 in response Musk then also went on to call O’Leary a “total idiot” and asked his 223 million followers whether he should “buy Ryan Air [he wrote the name incorrectly] and restore Ryan as their rightful ruler.”
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After several days of back-and-forth and Musk escalating his insults, the Ryanair social media team once again responded by saying that it was launching a “Great Idiots” sale specifically in honor of Musk.
“Perhaps Musk needs a break??” the @Ryanair account wrote on X in the late hours of Jan. 20. “Ryanair is launching a Great Idiots seat sale especially for Elon and any other idiots on ‘X’.”
The airline goes on to promise to mark down 100,000 of its seats to different destinations across Europe for €14.99 in each direction and the airline’s website has indeed been updated with offers at these prices to destinations such as Dublin, Manchester and Cork as well as mainland cities like Budapest and Bologna.
How to score a deal through the Ryanair ‘Great Idiots’ sale
The tickets need to be purchased by midnight of Jan. 22 for travel between now and April 30.
“Don’t thank us, thank that big ‘IDIOT’ Elon Musk,” the airline wrote further. “Book today before Musk gets one!”
Musk has yet to respond but the ongoing feud helped draw attention to the airline and its routes in particular; some social media followers confirmed that they have already booked flights through the “Great Idiots” sale.
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The feud has been followed closely by both Ryanair travelers and analysts speculating how a feud would affect both Ryanair and Tesla stocks but the airline has long taken a lighthearted and in some cases feuding and insulting social media strategy that has helped it find a new fan base with Gen Z travelers.
In the past, Ryanair has trolled a passenger who complained about service on social media by asking if she would rather pay “€19.99 or €136,000,000?” for a private jet and posted that actress Sydney Sweeney was “much too old” for Leonardo DiCaprio in reference to the the long-running internet joke that DiCaprio rarely dates women older than 25.
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