Ryanair Seeks More Love, Less Hate From Customers

Too often for customers, it's been the Ryanair Ordeal. Now Europe's no-frills airline leader, renowned for forsaking service in favor of the cheapest fares, is hoping to improve its love-hate relationship with customers by offering them fewer tears in exchange for their trip.

On Wednesday in London the airline's famously rude chief, Michael O'Leary, plans to unveil a company initiative billed as "The Ryanair Experience."

The goal is to keep building what is already, by many measures, Europe's biggest and most successful airline in an era of rising competition with budget rivals.

Ryanair has built an enviable industry position, carrying more than 81 million people to 186 destinations across Europe and North Africa last year. It's positioned to record fiscal 2014 net profits above 500 million euros ($690 million).