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‘Top guy’: Ryanair’s Michael O’Leary filmed helping passengers board delayed flight

‘Other CEOs should follow this man’s example,’ wrote one impressed TikTok user

Lucy Thackray
Thursday 06 October 2022 15:08 BST
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Ryanair passenger jumps out of emergency exit after flight delay

Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary has been filmed helping board passengers for a flight at Dublin Airport.

TikTok user @CarleenAngelo posted the video of the budget airline’s boss, who appeared to jump up and take passenger boarding passes to get customers onto a delayed flight.

“CEO Michael O Leary in action,” they captioned the video, posted on Tuesday, which shows Mr O’Leary asking customers to come forward and scan their boarding passes.

“Too much delay all flight today [sic] OMG,” they added in a caption on the video itself, saying in the hashtags that it was a departure from Dublin to Malaga Airport.

TikTok followers were impressed, with the video garnering 67,800 views and nearly 1,000 comments at the time of writing.

“Other CEOs should follow this man’s example, getting down onto the shop floor meeting the customers,” wrote one TikTok user beneath the video.

“Thats how a CEO should act, get stuck in,” agreed another.

“He should be running the country,” wrote a user with the handle @Seany123.

“Regular thing this, Michael likes to know what’s going on across the business and be visible with his customers,” wrote another user, Graeme.

“Top guy,” wrote another fan.

Even Ryanair’s social media team commented, simply writing “Go Daddy”; to which the original poster responded: “He was a really good humble CEO #respect.”

However one travel fan speculated: “Always a worry when the boss starts doing minimal jobs, shows the staff aren’t pulling their weight.”

Others suggested it was a publicity stunt. “The things you do for PR,” one said.

Another TikTok user suggested that Mr O’Leary was on the Malaga flight himself and just wanted to get going, to which the video’s creator confirmed, “Yes he was on the same flight.”

Last week the Ryanair chief executive described the economic plan put forward by the UK Government as “nuts”, adding that the mini-budget could bankrupt the UK in the coming years.

“I think what they have done in the UK is nuts,” Mr O’Leary said.

“You can’t have an energy guarantee that runs for two years. It’s completely uncosted.

“I think they could bankrupt the UK economy in the next two years.”

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