* CEO O'Leary pushes customer service overhaul
* Part of bid to grow by 40 pct in 5 years
By Conor Humphries
DUBLIN, Oct 25 (Reuters) - Ryanair promised onFriday to slash its charges for extra baggage and reprintingboarding passes, the boldest move yet by chief executive MichaelO'Leary to shake off the low-cost giant's reputation forbad customer service.
The measures aim to address some of the most frequentcomplaints against Europe's largest airline, which was voted theworst of the 100 biggest brands serving the British market byreaders of consumer magazine Which?
Ryanair will also let passengers to bring a second smallcarry-on bag on board at no extra charge and correct minorbooking errors within 24 hours, it said in a statement.
"When they say they are going to do something, they don't doit in half measures," said Davy Research analyst StephenFurlong. "There are a lot of non-believers that they need toconvert."
O'Leary was due to host a chat on Twitter to explain thechanges, only the second time he has used the social network,long a mainstay of corporate communications at rival airlines.
The company's share price was down 2.2 percent after thenews, underperforming an Irish stock exchange that was down 0.4percent.
Management have admitted Ryanair must improve to meet a goalof boosting passengers to 110 million from 80 million over thenext five years after the order of 175 Boeing 737s.
It is targetting the large number of customers who fly withrival low cost carriers like easyJet and Norwegian, but who refuse to fly with Ryanair because of itsperceived poor service.
O'Leary promised a customer service revolution at thecompany's annual general meeting last month and has alreadypromised to revamp the company's web site, scrapping atime-consuming security code, a pet peeve of many users.
That announcement came after the airline's batteredreputation hit a new low when it charged a Dublin surgeon 188euros to reschedule a flight after his entire family was killedin a fire in England.
Addressing a rule that has led to numerous newspaper storiesabout unfortunate families forced to pay hundreds of euros atthe check-in desk, Ryanair said they would cut the fee forreprinting boarding passes of passengers who have checked inonline to 15 euros from 70.
The standard baggage fee will be cut to 30 euros from 60euros, which Ryanair said would bring it into line withcompetitor airlines.
The company will also introduce quiet flights between 9 pmand 8am, scrapping the loud alert when a plane arrives on time.
The moves will remove irritants for passengers withouthitting any key revenue streams, said Davy analyst Furlong.
"They won't do anything that will affect the cost base," hesaid.
easyJet (EZJ)
