Pay toilets didn’t fly…so, remove them

Well, it seems Europe’s Ryanair is at it again.  If you remember this low-cost carrier, just about a year ago, announced plans to charge $1.50 to use the bathrooms.  See my previous post regarding added fees the airlines were implementing late last year.

Since the public revolted at the proposed bathroom fee, they dropped it.  However, here’s the latest plan announced by Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary, (since people won’t pay to use the bathroom…they’re going to remove them!  Yep, you read that right…) they plan on leaving just 1 bathroom per plane.

By removing two bathrooms, Ryanair can add up to 6 more seats per plane.  Of course, that also means that up to 189 passengers on some of their Boeing 737’s will all have to share that 1 remaining bathroom!   While I jokingly anticipated the “fee toilets” as an added airline fee when they started charging for blankets and pillows, I must admit I did not foresee this.

Can you imagine the line of people trying to get into that one available toilet?  What if someone was sick?  What if that toilet went out of order?   The offset to this move according to Mr. O’Leary,  is that fares should come down 5%.   Do you think this is a back-door way of re-selling the pay-toilet scheme?  I can see his next move as announcing that in response to the public uproar, they will leave the plane configurations as is, but will re-institue the idea of charging $1.50 to use the available restrooms, calling it the lesser of two evils.

Care to share your thoughts?