premise: When Michael O'Leary was tasked with turning Ryanair 's fortunes around just over a decade ago , his first port of call was a visit to Southwest Airlines to figure out how they managed to achieve low costs . Southwest have no assigned seating , but they do have boarding groups which makes things easy . They also give you a free coffee or soft drink , a package - o - nuts , and a smile . The planes have superb legroom , nice seats , and are n't garish and decked out in horrible yellow and blue . What might Michael O'Leary have done with Ryanair after the visit with Southwest ?
hypothesis: Michael O'Leary might have implemented cost cutting policies to compete with other airlines .