Ryanair is not really one of the big players in the airline game, so if you have never heard of them it’s understandable.
Of course, if you have been on Elon Musk’s X platform the past couple days, it might be hard to miss Ryanair because it has been going in on Musk pretty hard.
In fact, Ryanair — describe on its Wikipedia as an ultra low-cost airline headlined in Ireland — is even running a sale off of its current back-and-forth with Musk.
Ryanair’s “Big Idiot Seat Sale” is offering flights for as low as about $20 across February, March and April. There’s a catch, though.
“Only available for Elon Musk and any other ‘Idiots’ on X!!” the ad shared by the airline on X reads. “Book today before Musk gets one!”
The ad also appears to show a cartoon of Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary jamming an “I (heart emoji) Ryanair!” sign into the ear of a cartoon guy who looks a lot like Musk.
“Don’t thank us, thank that big ‘IDIOT’ @elonmusk,” the airline wrote above the ad.
So, what gives?
Well, Musk has been openly critical of the airline since it declined to install Starlink on its planes, and O’Leary hasn’t backed down.
The airline really seemed to set Musk off on Jan. 19 when it reshared a post on X that read, “what is a propaganda you’re not falling for??” and wrote, “Wi-Fi on planes.”
Musk responded by asking how much it would cost to buy the airline.
Someone replied with a video of an interview in which O’Leary called Musk “an idiot,” while explaining that Musk knew “zero” about flight and drag.
“We have to put an aerial antenna on top of the aircraft,” O’Leary said. “It would cost us about $200-$250 million a year. In other words, about an extra dollar for every passenger we fly. And the reality for us is, we can’t afford those costs. Passengers won’t pay for internet usage. If it’s free, they’ll use it. But they want pay one euro to use the internet. So, we’re not putting it on board. And I frankly wouldn’t pay any attention to anything Elon Musk puts out in that cesspit of his called X. He was the guy who advocated to getting Donald Trump elected. I would pay no attention whatsoever to Elon Musk.
“He’s an idiot. Very wealthy, but he’s still an idiot.”
Musk responded to that by writing, “Michael O’Leary is a retarded twat who needs to be fired. Put him out to pasture! Please make sure he sees this message.”
O’Leary has invited Musk to try to buy the airline, saying “we would think it’s a very good investment.
“Certainly a significantly better investment than the financial returns he’s earning on X,” O’Leary said.
The bad news for Musk, though, is that per CBS News there are rules that bar non-European citizens from owning a majority stake in a European airline.
The good news is he can fly really cheap on Ryanair for the next couple of months.
