Ryanair cuddles up to families with bottle warmers and free cot transport

Ryanair is seeking to take the edge off flying with small children by providing family-oriented amenities such as bottle warmers and free transport for pushchairs.

The products include discounts for children’s seats, checked bags and travel insurance, in flight milk-warming and baby-changing facilities, and two free pieces of equipment such as buggies or cots on board, the airline said yesterday.

The improvements add to a range of upgrades that Ryanair has launched in recent months as chief executive Michael O’Leary seeks to shed the image of an abrasive carrier with little regard for customer service. Measures already introduced include more allocated seating, a user-friendly online booking process, and fewer fees tied to airport check-in.

“We’re fixing things that people don’t like,” chief marketing officer Kenny Jacobs said at a press conference at the London Eye yesterday. “It’s going to help our top line because it’s going to help more families say ‘we’ll fly with Ryanair’ and it’s going to help us from a retention point of view.”

Child-friendly products, as well as discounts when a family makes a third booking, should help drive loyalty among young parents, he said. Families account for 15% to 20% of Ryanair’s customer base. Europe’s biggest discount airline will next unveil a mobile phone app as well as a “tailored business product”.

Ryanair is also speaking to retailers about co-marketing products, Mr Jacobs said. Companies could use Ryanair data to target travellers with products they may need before or after their holiday, he said, while restaurants, hotels and car rental companies are likely to be interested in joint promotions and discounts.

“We will have 85 million passengers this year, that’s a very rich data asset,” Mr Jacobs said. “We will start to use that data to impact the joint promotions that we run with partners over the next couple years.”

- Bloomberg