Charging for Toilets: One Airline’s New Cost Saving Measure
EmailThe list of amenities while flying continues to dwindle. Passengers now pay for food, beverages, checked baggage, extra leg room — and to use the bathroom?! Ryanair, a European budget airline, has confirmed that it will now charge passengers who need to use the toilet while in flight. The Guardian reports that the airline will ask Boeing to put credit card machines on toilet locks. They will also remove two toilets from each of its 737-800 planes to add 6 extra seats. The extra cost-saving measures come in the midst an announcement that the airline posted an annual loss for the first time in 20 years. Ryanair is no stranger to add-on fees. They began charging for checked baggage long before other airlines, and they plan to have passengers load their own bags onto the aircraft in the future.
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Maybe change the name to DyanAir. I’ll
bet someone jambs the credit card reader
on the first flight.
Posted by: spacerook1 | June 3, 2009, 6:39 pm 6:39 pm
Exactly what were they thinking? I can definitely say I will NEVER, now or in the future Ever fly Ryan Air. Do they charge the attendants and other crew too? Morons.
Posted by: Last Unicorn | June 3, 2009, 6:54 pm 6:54 pm
I wonder if the National Health Service will really let them get away with this? Not everyone who flies on RyanAir carries a credit card I would wager. If you have ever been on their flights you would know this. I think this will be a losing proposition for one of my favorite airlines. I’m glad I had a chance to take all of those free flights when I did. Oh, the good old days. All their toilet gains will be eaten up in seat replacement I’d bet!
Posted by: Patricia | June 3, 2009, 7:03 pm 7:03 pm
I wonder if the National Health Service will really let them get away with this? Not everyone who flies on RyanAir carries a credit card I would wager. If you have ever been on their flights you would know this. I think this will be a losing proposition for one of my favorite airlines. I’m glad I had a chance to take all of those free flights when I did. Oh, the good old days. All their toilet gains will be eaten up in seat replacement I’d bet!
Posted by: Patricia | June 3, 2009, 7:05 pm 7:05 pm
Is this story a joke? Are they allowed to deny the use of a bathroom to their passengers, who have no other choice?
This is another example of customer service going down the tubes in favor of higher profit.
Posted by: C'est moi | June 3, 2009, 7:17 pm 7:17 pm
insane. should i ever need to book a flight in europe, i will certainly avoid this airline.
Posted by: justsane | June 3, 2009, 7:49 pm 7:49 pm
I hope that customers start peeing in their seats… Maybe this will make them rethink this charge…..The stench will get awful after awhile…
Posted by: Jerry | June 3, 2009, 7:53 pm 7:53 pm
Lets all boycott this Airline !!
Posted by: Reed | June 3, 2009, 7:55 pm 7:55 pm
They’re going to have the passengers load their own bags into the cargo hold? Does anyone else see this as a huge security breach? I would imagine it would make it extremely easy for someone to load something into the cargo hold that should not be there – like a bomb?
Posted by: anon | June 3, 2009, 8:36 pm 8:36 pm
Uryanal Air
Posted by: Lipton | June 3, 2009, 8:41 pm 8:41 pm
What a crock. People will just pee on the bathroom floor!
Posted by: Patti Enns | June 3, 2009, 9:00 pm 9:00 pm
If they’re in that dire of straits they may as well fold up camp. I’ll crap in the aisle before I pay to use the toilet on an airplane. Lights out for “Dyin’air”.
Posted by: magooluvsu | June 3, 2009, 9:21 pm 9:21 pm
I’m ok with not using the bathroom. As long. I’ve always wanted to pee like the fountains of bellagio. All the rest of the passengers should just make sure to wear a rain coat. This is perfect. There’s two that can play this game :) Let the fountains of pee…flourish.
Posted by: joe joe | June 3, 2009, 9:23 pm 9:23 pm
Actually that’s a great idea. Actually peeing in the Aisles is probably a better way to relief yourself. I think I’d want to do that do. Ryanair has the right to charge for peeing. And we have the right to not use the bathroom. If anything using a bathroom is such a formal privlede. When u gotta go..u gotta go. And those willing to pay to pee can do so..and those that just need to go should go in the aisles. Pee coats should be worn I agree.
Posted by: Jim | June 3, 2009, 9:27 pm 9:27 pm
Once upon a time there was a little boy named Johnny. One fine spring day, Johnny, Mum and Dad were in the Stanstead airport lounge waiting to board their Ryanair flight to Malaga. Johnny was thirsty, so Dad bought him a 500ml bottle of Coke. Johnny was so parched that he chugged the entire thing in 5 minutes. 30 minutes into the flight Johnny had to pee like a racehorse, but Mum realized she’d forgotten her handbag. She frantically asked random passengers to loan her their credit cards and finally found a willing old lady seated in Row 23…but alas, help arrived too late…little Johnny had an accident all over the cabin floor and the honeymooning couple seated in Row 1.
If Ryanair goes through with the Pee Fee, this sort of thing will not be an uncommon occurrence.
Posted by: E. Mabley | June 4, 2009, 2:06 pm 2:06 pm
I think they ought to take it a little bit further and have the passengers arrange to pay for the pilots too. Passengers have their choice of Jeff, a 10,000 hour veteran pilot – or – they can pay for Roger – a 14 yr old who has thousands of hours playing flight simulator who can take you from London to Rome using the joystick on his computer while he sits and eats kit kats in the basement of his parents Surrey home. Substantial difference in cost, so, we’;ll leave it up to the passengers to decide who to pay for on their trip. Jeff adds $7 to their trip while they can save $5 by hiring Roger for $2.
Posted by: Joe | June 5, 2009, 1:00 pm 1:00 pm