Cheap Flights, Expensive Frustration By Fiona van Iersel Minerva Empowerment Consumer Behaviour 4 February 2025 Service Quality When Expectations Are Low My expectations of service were shaped by experiences in the US and Mexico, where I became used to a “customer is always right” approach. After moving to the Netherlands, I encountered a different emphasis on efficiency and rules. My experience with Ryanair brought that tension into sharp focus: a low fare may attract me, but it does not switch off my desire to be treated well. Ryanair’s Service Model: Efficiency Over Experience I was sent to the Netherlands for work and booked on Ryanair. Its low-cost model strips back the offer, focuses on efficiency and charges separately for services that passengers may expect to be included (O’Connell & Williams, 2005). For me, the experience felt like an airborne sardine can. The business model and the passenger’s expectations were not meeting happily. Evaluating Ryanair Through Service Quality Theories Disconfirmation Model: The Power of Low Expectations Low expectations can change how people judge an experience. If a passenger expects only a basic journey, a smooth, punctual flight may feel like a good outcome. But low expectations are not immunity from disappointment—I can attest to that. The disconfirmation model is useful here: satisfaction depends partly on the gap between what a customer expected and what they experienced. My own expectation includes some effort to recover when things go wrong: an explanation, acknowledgement or practical help. Service recovery can influence how customers remember an otherwise disappointing encounter (Berry et al., 2002). Cognitive Dissonance & Arousal: Paying More, Getting Less? At the gate, I watched an older passenger put his bag into the measuring frame and face an extra charge. The queue’s frustration was palpable. An apparently cheap purchase feels different when additional costs appear at the point where the customer has little room to change plans. A traveller who expects flexibility may be especially frustrated by a model built around standard rules. The gap between the promise they imagined and the offer they actually bought can prompt a lot of post-purchase rationalisation. Emotional arousal: frustration peaks when customers assume they can negotiate a solution and discover that staff have little flexibility. Locus of Causality & Stability: Who’s to Blame? A fee framed as the customer’s failure to read the conditions puts responsibility on the passenger. From the passenger’s perspective, unclear or easily missed conditions may feel like a service-design problem. That difference in perceived responsibility matters. A company may see consistent policy enforcement; a customer may see an avoidable failure to help. SERVQUAL Analysis of Ryanair’s Customer Experience My subjective SERVQUAL ratings, based on the experience described: Responsiveness — 2/5: getting help when a problem arises should feel easier. Assurance — 3/5: a basic transaction does little to build a personal sense of trust. Tangibles — 3/5: a no-frills setting and a booking journey full of optional extras. Reliability — 4/5: delivering the journey matters, but rigid rules can still create friction. Empathy — 1/5: this was the weakest part of the experience for me. Practical Recommendation: Shift from "transactional" to "relational" service. Offering small customer recovery efforts (even automated apologies or minor credits) could retain customers who otherwise defect to higher-cost airlines (Berry et al., 2002). Cultural Flexibility: Test whether clearer explanations and a little flexibility at the right moment improve the experience, while accounting for the cost and consistency of the service. The service opportunity A low-cost airline can build demand around price and a stripped-back offer. What interests me is how far it can push that logic before the emotional cost starts to matter to customers. Why not offer small gestures of goodwill that fit the cost model? Clearer explanations, consistent communication and a timely apology do not require turning a budget service into a luxury one. A successful business model can coexist with customers who dislike parts of the experience. That is a reason to understand the trade-off carefully, not to assume that satisfaction has stopped mattering.