Need to go? Get ready to pay up - pay toilets making a comeback...
 

Airline considers fee for lavatory use - CNN.com

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The best way to deal with pay toilets is probably something I saw years ago in a laundromat - someone (not me) dropped a steamer right outside the front door and left it there. Gross and disgusting, but effective. A week or so later, the pay thingy was off the bathroom door and replaced with a sign that just said "bathroom for customers only".

This seems stupid to me anyway - a plane is going to get lavatory service regardless - it's not like the rate they pay to the poo-sucker guys at the airport varies by weight (does it?) - I'd think it'd be a flat rate for coming out and hooking up the hose. So who cares?

Just raise the damn ticket prices by a buck each guys. Sheesh!

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(CNN) -- Fresh on the heels of one budget airline announcing that it will ask passengers to pay extra to bring carry-on bags on board, another is considering charging them for using the lavatory.

Ryanair, which is based in Dublin, Ireland, and bills itself as "Europe's first and largest low fares airline," is mulling a plan that would require travelers to pay either 1 euro or 1 British pound (about $1.33 or $1.52) for using the bathroom on flights lasting one hour or less.

The plan, titled "Ryanair Cost Saving Proposal," was published in the airline's inflight magazine.

The carrier said it is working with Boeing to develop a coin-operated door release so that when nature calls, passengers would need to deposit the change before being able to use the facilities.

The idea is to encourage people to use restrooms in airport terminals before boarding, Ryanair said. If the airline were to proceed, the changes would be at least 12 to 18 months away.

As part of the plan, the airline is also considering removing two of the three lavatories on some of its planes so it could squeeze in up to six extra seats. The move would help reduce fares by at least 5 percent, Ryanair said.

It's not the first time the airline has broached the subject of a toilet fee. CEO Michael O'Leary told the BBC in February 2009 that he was considering the charge.

How would it fly with passengers? One hint of how Americans might feel about it may come from an informal poll posted on TripAdvisor.com last summer in which one-fifth of the respondents said they would fly on an airline that charged a fee to access the bathroom; 78 percent said they would not. About 5,300 people answered the online survey question. But the idea may be less shocking to travelers in Europe, where it's not unusual to pay a small fee to use a public restroom.

Meanwhile, Ryanair announced Tuesday that it's raising its checked luggage fee from 15 euros to 20 euros per bag for the peak vacation months of July and August.

"Ryanair is determined to incentivise passengers to travel light this summer," spokesman Stephen McNamara said in a statement. The airline urged its passengers to avoid the fees by bringing carry-on bags only.

Ryanair is already well-known for its fees and is up-front about them on its Web site, which details charges for everything from online check-in to traveling with infants. Customers haven't balked; in fact, Ryanair's passenger traffic grew 13 percent last month compared to the same time last year, the airline reported.

Low-cost carriers have embraced the concept of a la carte pricing, or keeping base fares at rock bottom levels while charging passengers for any extra services.

On Tuesday, Florida-based Spirit Airlines announced that it will charge its customers $20 to $45 for items they place in the overhead bins.

I sit here all broken hearted,
Paid a dime and only f&rted.

Here I sit broken hearted
paid a dime and only farted
felt the pressure and took a chance
saved a dime but s*** my pants

Fixed that for ya

Another reason to despise the flying experience. I keep saying I've never had a commercial flying experience where I said to myself "you know, I really enjoyed that". More often it's "god that sucked".

Domestic air travel is one of our world's great ills. It just doesn't seem like it ought to be this miserable to fly.

Between parking and shuttles and security and nickel-and-dime fees and tiny seats next to fat smelly people, I'm considering making the shift to train for some of my shorter business hops.

The funny thing is that in a lot of other countries, it isn't. It's actually quite fun (sometimes) to fly internationally on international carriers. They don't put you through 1/10 of the bull we have to deal with here.

That said, I believe Ryanair is a British carrier servicing Ireland.

One thing I noticed right away about flying Air France was you don't have to listen to self-important flight attendants yammering on endlessly on the intercom about crap I don't care about (I normally read the safety card and know where the nearest two exits are, where my flotation device is, how to put it on and how to manipulate an emergency exit door/slide. I know how to put my seatbelt on too) They actually were there if you needed them and that's it. Otherwise, pretty much blissful silence the whole flight. It was nice (FAA drives a lot of this crap, not the carriers, but some go "above and beyond" with it, making endless distracting announcements about stuff that's not required by FAA regulation)

Anyway, I digress. Look for those pay toilets and respond accordingly.

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It's Ryan Air.

No surprise there and they'll get away with it.

They are the Earl Schieb of airlines and are huge because of it.

The whole experience is like mass transit, similar to taking a cross town bus or subway.