Ryanair moots baggage handling role for passengers

by Staff, Brand Republic 03-Jun-09, 09:20

LONDON - Ryanair is considering asking passengers to load their own luggage into aircraft holds to save money on baggage handlers, according to reports.

Ryanair's move to explore the option of using passengers as baggage handlers comes as it posted its first loss since it floated 12 years ago.

Its 2008 figures have been hit by an aborted attempt to acquire Aer Lingus and rising fuel prices in the first half of the year.

However if Ryanair does go ahead with the plan it is unknown how much it would reduce its current baggage handling fee of £10. According to the Daily Telegraph, the company said the fee would remain.

The Telegraph quoted a Stanstead Airport spokesman who questioned the possibility of such a move given security and practical considerations.

While the idea is far-fetched, so was Ryanair's proposal to charge passengers to use on-board toilets but chief executive Michael O'Leary went over the idea again yesterday.

Bizarrely O'Leary actually claimed that as well as adding more seating capacity to planes by allowing it to remove toilets it would be a winner with customers.

He said: "It's not because we need to generate money from the jacks. But if you get rid of one toilet you can get six seats on a 737. They will all be scurrying to the toilet before the departure gate.

"One thing that pisses passengers off the most, if you'll pardon the pun, is passengers clambering over them to get to the toilet.

O'Leary has also claimed: "If someone wanted to pay £5 to go to the toilet I would carry them myself. I would wipe their bums for a fiver."

One person who may take O'Leary up on his kind offer is Queen Sofia of Spain. The 70-year-old wife of King Juan Carlos recently flew with Ryanair from northern Spain to Stansted.

It is common practice for Spain's royal family to use scheduled flights.

Comments

Matt Rodriguez - 03/06/2009

i'd pay a fiver to have Micheal O'Leary wipe my backside

FP - 03/06/2009

Is that a fiver to be carried and then another fiver to get wiped? It all adds up, doesn't it?

Stef Brown - 03/06/2009

This is clearly just a lot of bravado and noisemaking to deflect from the profit loss announcement. Health and safety regulations mean there have to be a minimum number of toilets per passenger capacity of an aircraft. Also, the health and safety and security risks in passengers being on the tarmac to load their luggage is too enormous. I'd like to see O'Leary persuading his air crew that they'll need to clean up any messes during a flight when there are no toilets and a passenger suffers diarrhea or a colitis attack!

Philip Smith-Lawrence - 03/06/2009

When will he try and charge passengers to breath on the flights?

Peter Etheridge - 03/06/2009

The man needs to sort his priorities out - he wants to charge me a tenner to put my own bag in the hold, but for a fiver he'll wipe my arse for me? Seems like a bargain! Wonder if Queen Sofia bought one of those "charity scratchcards" they wave in your face at regular intervals throughout the flight? She could be rolling round Madrid in that entry level Fiat they've been threatening to give away for the last 2 years!

- 03/06/2009

Think of the lost revenue from selling drinks on board - you're not going spend a few quid on a drink if an hour later it might cost you another fiver! Air traffic control delayed flights could become quite profitable I suppose.

Kate Ritchie - 03/06/2009

very bullish comments on their abysmal results yesterday. a desperate organisation about to fail miserably if they don't start treating passengers with some respect.

MIKE PHILLIPSON - 03/06/2009

Clearly O'Leary has never been on a flight with an under two year old - imagine trying to juggle a child with loading baggage in a snow storm. Maybe he will supply a toboggan for the child to play with - or will that be an extra 50p?!

Lorna - 03/06/2009

Maybe as their next money-saving venture they shouldn't bother with wings and just get the passengers to flap their arms....?

Suzie Shore - 03/06/2009

It could make quite a good comedy sketch though. I find it hard to take this brand seriously.

Gellan Watt - 03/06/2009

Insanity. If they can't afford to handle luggage, they can't afford to carry passengers.

bronw Kyle - 11/08/2009

Irish transport Minister, Noel Dempsey, shot down Ryanair proposals to force passengers to carry their bags all the way to the tarmac beside an aircraft. Mr Dempsey insisted security measures for cabin and hold baggage were in place as part of the overall aviation security regime in the State Just an new idea or another advertising stunt from O'Leary? http://www.independent.ie/travel/travel-advice/ryanairs-carry-own-bag-plan-blocked-1815714.html