If Ryanair, the aggressive European low-fare carrier, wanted to A) raise travelers' hackles or B) get their name in print and on the air, they couldn't have picked a better subject than the possibility of converting their lavatories into pay toilets.
The Associated Press's widely printed story tried to make light of the situation by inserting reportorial witticisms and pithy quotes:
"When nature calls at 30,000 feet, is $1.40 a wee price to pay? Or could it
force passengers without correct change into a whole new kind of holding
pattern? The head of budget European airline Ryanair unleashed a flood of
indignation and potty humor Friday when he suggested that future passengers
might be obliged to insert a British pound coin for access to the lavatory to
get some in-flight relief.
"Airline chief Michael O'Leary suggested that installing pay toilets would
lower ticket costs and make flying, somehow, easier for all. Not even his own
aides seemed to be sure if he was serious or pursuing his penchant for making
brazen declarations to get free publicity for Ryanair....
"O'Leary spokesman Stephen McNamara said his boss often spoke tongue in
cheek - but he then defended the idea of in-flight pay toilets as part of a
logical trend. 'Michael makes a lot of this stuff up as he goes along and, while
this has been discussed internally, there are no immediate plans to introduce
it,' McNamara said, adding, 'Passengers using train and bus stations are already
accustomed to paying to use the toilet, so why not on airplanes? Not everyone
uses the toilet on board one of our flights, but those that do could help to
reduce airfares for all passengers.'
"Analysts agreed that the man who pioneered charging passengers to
check bags, to use a check-in desk and even to use a credit or debit card to
make an online booking just might be serious about mile-high toilet
extortion....
"Not surprisingly, passengers reacted with indignation and outrage at the
prospect....'Your only choice with Ryanair, really, is not to fly Ryanair. Your
dignity goes out the window. If you have a complaint, they're not programmed to
care," said Samantha Jones, a 30-year-old Welsh woman.She discounted the practicality of a restroom rebellion. 'If you are given a choice between wetting your knickers or not wetting your knickers, you will pay whatever fee they make you pay, and Mr. O'Leary knows this well,' she said. 'Frankly, I'm surprised he's talking about letting us have a wee for a pound, not more!'"Rochelle Turner, head of research at British consumer rights magazine Which? Holiday, said Ryanair had a well-documented practice of putting profit before the comfort of its customers" - but this one could backfire. 'Charging people to go to the toilet might result in fewer people buying overpriced drinks on board. That would serve Ryanair right...
"Noah Cole of Portland, Ore., who has flown on Ryanair, called it "unconscionable" to charge for a bathroom, and he even predicted money-changing problems. In other words, if you only have dollars, can you still euro-nate?..."
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no - no - no. That is not O.K. Pay toilets anywhere are not O.K. but on a plane, it should be outright illegal? Either that - or start expecting terrible terrible smells as people find other ways around this situation.
ReplyDeleteJust add two dollars into the ticket price. Plane companies, what's wrong with you?!
My initial reaction was just the same as Previously.bitten's. Then I remembered that pay toilets are a lot more common in England - in fact when I moved here 20+ years ago I was surprised that you didn't have pay. I still feel guilty stopping at a gas station simply to use their bathroom. On one trip to England, my kids were so fascinated by the pay toilets - especially one at Waterloo train station that had a turnstile entry, we started to take photos of the all the different pay toilets we visited. And in England, the phrase "spend a penny" is a polite way of saying you need to use the restroom. I still hear people use the phrase although a penny wouldn't get you in anywhere!
ReplyDeleteMandy - When I was growing up in Connecticut, the very elegant marble bathrooms at Grand Central Station had pay toilets. I've experienced them overseas too -- either coin-operated or with an attendant who gets a tip (sometimes for handing our small amounts of toilet paper) and who also keeps the facility clean. However, and this is a big however, these pay-to-go restrooms on solid ground aren't the same as having to pay while on an airplane for which you have bought a ticket -- low-fare or not.
ReplyDeleteNelson Alacantra just wrote about this too in an on-line travel site. He started his report by saying > First they took away the peanuts, then the pillows and blankets. Now an airline is mulling over charging for toilet usage, too? After that he said pretty much what you did here.
ReplyDeletePiss on Ryan Air.
ReplyDeleteSpam removed above
ReplyDeleteIts not as crazy as it sounds. The idea is not the revenue from the toilets, rather to discourage people from using the,. They remove a few toilets and add some more seats.
ReplyDeleteTheir flights are short - go in the airport or PAY!
RTP might have a point about their motivation, but it is STILL going to, as has been suggested, piss off customers.
ReplyDelete