Do you have thighs of steel? If so you could take advantage of Ryanair's latest borderline-insane plan to maximise revenue – standing tickets for its planes.
For as little as £4 the firm intends to sell space at the rear of its aircraft for anyone who thinks they can take three hours of dodging around drinks trolleys and other passengers queuing for the toilet.
There are three questions: Is it safe? Is it legal? And is it worth it?
In a TV interview Michael O'Leary, the airline's chief executive and a major reason why many people refuse to fly with the airline, was asked about Ryanair's other hugely controversial scheme: to charge people on shorter flights £1 to use the toilet.
He said the coin-operated toilets would be on flights soon 'and the other change we've been looking at is taking out the last 10 rows of seats so we will have 15 rows of seats and the equivalent of 10 rows of standing area'.
The airline has since confirmed that it is talking to Boeing about refitting its 250 planes with what it calls 'vertical seats'. In order to comply with safety rules, passengers would have to be strapped to them.
The airline says tickets for these 'seats' would start at £4. But then it already has tickets for less than this, so there's a good chance that they would be sold on the same basis – a few sold at cheap promotional prices, and the rest at a much higher costs.
O'Leary said safety testing could happen as early as this year, when the toilet charge will also come into force.
The toilet charge is aimed at reducing the number of people using the toilets, so two of the three at the rear of the plane could be removed. The space could then be used for standing passengers.
A spokesman for the Civil Aviation Authority said it was questionable whether the standing seats would meet safety regulations.
'It's aviation law that people have to have a seatbelt on for take-off and landing so they would have to be in a seat. I don't know how Mr O'Leary would get around that one. During turbulence, passengers also have to have a seatbelt on,' he said
About Me
- Diana
- Worcestershire, United Kingdom
- I have worked in the travel industry most of my working life, owning my own agency for 14 years as well as working for travel industry suppliers. I wanted to share my life, my stories, my likes and dislikes with you and hopefully get some feedback from all of you out there in blogger world. I currently live in the Midlands, I am 45 years old and have two grown up children 24yrs and 19 years.
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