Europe’s biggest but most loathed low-cost airline, Ryanair, has promised to stop trolling passengers and celebrities on social media, with the Dublin-based carrier saying that after “careful consideration,” it had decided to shift its “communication style and tone of voice.”
The timing of the announcement has not, however, been lost on passengers who wonder whether the Tuesday evening update on Ryanair’s official account on X was part of an elaborate April Fool’s prank that is yet to fully play out.
Update… pic.twitter.com/reCYMc0RLo
— Ryanair (@Ryanair) March 31, 2026
Ryanair’s now infamous approach to ruthlessly trashposting on social media was the brainchild of the airline’s former Head of Social Media, Michael Corcoran, who transformed the way Ryanair behaved on X and Facebook in 2021.
Corcoran would later explain that there was a method in the madness of the merciless trolling that Ryanair quickly became famous for.
“A lot of people think we’re just a bunch of 12-year-olds s**t-posting on the internet, or the school bully who gives everyone a nipple cripple every now and then,” Corcoran told the industry publication, Adweek, in 2022.
“But there’s a method behind the madness,” Corcoran continued. “If you’re posting boring s**t that’s not entertainment and driving culture and connecting with people, you’re not getting good value out of the platforms.”
Corcoran said that Ryanair wanted to appeal to Gen Z customers who didn’t want “perfect content” and were attracted to brands that were “more real and human.”
Over the last few years, Ryanair’s social media team has scoured the internet to troll passengers, calling them out for wearing denim jeans on a plane, or making fun of customers who complained about the airline’s infamous windowless window seat at row 11A.
Make no mistake, though, Ryanair’s social media team has been running a professional operation, constantly scouting for opportunities to ‘newsjack’ trends and insert Ryanair into the new agenda.
Most recently, Ryanair’s social media team helped fuel the flames in a very public spat between chief executive Michael O’Leary and the world’s richest man, Elon Musk, over the airline’s refusal to install high-speed Starlink internet on its planes.
But have the days of Ryanair ‘s**tposting’ at will finally come to an end? On Tuesday evening, Ryanir pinned the following message on its official accounts on X and Facebook:
“After careful consideration, we’ve decided to shift Ryanair’s communication style and tone of voice. From now on, we will be adopting a more corporate and professional approach in our communication.”
The message continued: “Thank you for the last few years.”
Has Ryanair really turned over a new leaf? Let’s see what happens tomorrow when April Fool’s Day is actually here.
