No frills airline Ryanair scored another free publicity coup on Tuesday night after the BBC’s television exposé on the airline backfired.

The Panorama documentary, aimed at examining the love/hate relationship between the airline and its passengers, fell short, viewers said. According to The Times in London, a number of watchers, commenting on blogs and Twitter, asked whether the airline deserved what effectively became a 30-minute prime-time advert.

By yesterday morning, Ryanair had hit back at what it claimed were Panorama’s “lies” by releasing 1.1 million free seats on its website, 100 000 for each alleged falsehood, adding that the TV programme had uncovered “nothing, nada, rien, diddly squat”.

O’Leary stoked the flames further, claiming that the documentary “was more Bananarama than Panorama. The BBC had no case, no facts and no clue. The only benefit it provided to viewers was the 1.1million free seats Ryanair will give away as a result of its false claims.”

O’Leary is a master at turning any publicity, good or bad, to his airline’s advantage.

UPDATE, Wednesday 5.05pm GMT+2: Whether people will actually be able to get free tickets to where they want to go remains to be seen as the comment below seems to attest.

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