Emirates and Ryanair have had a playful exchange on social media after the Irish low-cost carrier took a jab at the Dubai airline's new economy-class headrests.
The exchange began when Emirates posted images on X of its U-Dream Headrest, showing the adjustable design in its upright and folded positions.
"Headrest down and ready for take-off," the Dubai airline wrote. Ryanair's verdict was considerably shorter: "hate it".
The low-cost airline accompanied its response with an edited image showing its mascot sitting in one of the Emirates seats. Emirates then hit back. "Looks like someone's enjoying the legroom ...", it responded, sharing Ryanair's post.
The exchange attracted plenty of attention online, with social media users joining in with their own jokes about the contrasting passenger experiences offered by the two airlines.
For Ryanair, the response is very much on-brand. The airline has become known for its irreverent social media presence, and regularly pokes fun at passengers, itself and its competitors.
It also isn't the first time rival airlines have taken their competition online.
Last month, British Airways and Norwegian made a playful wager ahead of England and Norway's Fifa World Cup quarter-final. The airlines agreed that whichever country lost would have its national carrier replace its Instagram profile picture with the rival airline's logo for 24 hours.
After England's 2-1 victory, Norwegian honoured the bet and temporarily swapped its logo for that of British Airways. The exchange also attracted other airlines, including Malaysia Airlines and Austrian Airlines, which joined the conversation with jokes of their own.
Ryanair has also previously set its sights on British Airways. In 2019, after a BA flight intended for Dusseldorf mistakenly landed in Edinburgh because of a flight-plan mix-up, Ryanair posted an image of the book Geography for Dummies, writing: "Hey British Airways, we have a present for you."
What are Emirates' new economy headrests?
The subject of Ryanair's attention, the Emirates' U-Dream Headrest, was officially unveiled in July after an early glimpse of the unusual design went viral.
Part of Emirates' Safran Seats Z400 economy seat, the leather headrest features padded side wings that fold inwards to support a passenger's head and neck while sleeping. It can also be moved vertically and tilted to accommodate passengers of different heights.
Emirates describes the design as a world-first and says it has been independently tested and certified by the European Union Aviation Safety Agency.
"The U-Dream changes the game if the person wants to sleep, by supporting the neck in full. No more neck pillows needed," Emirates president Tim Clark said when the product was unveiled.
The headrests are already available on some of Emirates' Airbus A350 aircraft, with the airline planning to introduce them across its A350 fleet.
They will also come pre-installed on Emirates' Boeing 777X aircraft, and the airline plans to retrofit them across most of its Airbus A380s and Boeing 777s from 2027.
