That shy and retiring CEO of Ryanair, Michael O’Leary today has been grabbing the headlines as it proposes to reduce the amount of toilets on-board their 737-800’s from three to one.
The says by doing this, he would be able to reduce fares by a grand total of 5% on a flight by adding an whole extra row of seating in a 737-800, estimating a fare would fall £2 from £40 to £38.
O’Leary claims this is due to the low use of toilets he could do this.
Ok. Enough of the niceness about this Odious Little Man who once again thinks that passengers are cattle there for him to milk. Once again, the Odious Little Man is doing a round on the media and… well me included so he gets a free link to his website (no thanks O’Leary. There’s a standing €30 charge for that per link).
Least of all 195 people fighting to get to a toilet on a plane when it gets past 10,000ft (we’ve all seen it – get on a plane, it climbs, it his 10,000ft, bong from the cockpit, and people are madly dashing for the toilet… and pretty much the same on decent as the cross leg brigade seem to hang around the toilets, queueing up for the small room)
ABTA isn’t too impressed with this calling it a step too far, and points out if a Biological Hazard occurs on the plane in the toilet, it could lock it out of service for the entire flight (Biological Hazard = someone throwing up with air-sickness and the like).
Thankfully, Boeing is keeping rather muted on this stating:
“We’re always listening to what our customers need but don’t discuss those conversations or any business decisions,”
So what can we take away from this? Is Ryanair wanting more bums on seats on their planes… or are they just playing it’s usual game of being a publicity grabbing as usual with it’s Odious Little Man at the heart of it?
Probably somewhere in the middle.
However my advice is constant about Ryanair:
- Ignore the headline fare – means nothing until you’ve hit “Book”
- Factor ALL costs in
- Compare it to other airlines – you may be surprised.
- Don’t pay a penny more than you have to if you decide to book with them
- Remember, you’re a customer, not cattle. Even Ryanair has to obey EC 261/2004 on air travel (something Ryanair 1) forgets and 2) needs reminding often).
- And if you want to be treated like a human when travelling, consider other carriers.
Watching the new Pan Am TV show the other day, I reflected that I would gladly pay a hundred or two MORE per ticket and fly on an airline that had an almost business class experience in coach. Especially on flights over 3 hours.
And I don’t think I’m alone.
Maybe publicity stunts like this will eventually have a purpose and finally make someone at a proper (ie not Ryanair) realize there is a market for a return to decent legroom and food on planes.
Ack. Got so riled, I didn’t proof properly. The last sentence should be:
Maybe publicity stunts like this will eventually have a purpose and finally make someone at a proper AIRLINE(ie not Ryanair)realize there is a market for a return to decent legroom and food on planes.