by Lea Tyrrell
Like every Long Islander right now, I’m pretty tired of being “nickel and dimed” by every company and level of government trying to wring every last cent out of me. But I couldn’t believe one of the latest money-making proposals from an airline.
The head of Ryanair, an Irish airline, proposed making passengers pay to use the onboard bathrooms. The CEO, Michael O’Leary, has been described as “arrogant,” “extravagantly outspoken,” and “ruthless” in his management style. In other words, not above doing or saying something just for the publicity. So a lot of people didn’t know whether to take his proposal seriously. But these days, money is so tight, anything’s possible.
But then O’Leary insisted to reporters he was serious. He told them he’d asked engineers at Boeing to design toilets with doors that open only if you swipe a valid credit card. O’Leary’s original idea, he says, was to make them coin-operated, but that couldn’t work because the airline operates in areas using both the euro and the British pound. O’Leary estimated pay toilets would make the airline about $20 million dollars a year.
I had visions of poor moms and dads rummaging through purses, wallets and pockets looking for change after their toddler waited until the last minute to tell them they had “to go!” It’s a situation, as a mom, I’m familiar with and I can’t imagine having to do that on a plane. C’mon, even the LIRR doesn’t charge you to use the bathroom on the train (although a lot of passengers say you couldn’t PAY them to use those bathrooms. “Bathroom cleanliness” doesn’t usually get high marks from commuters in the annual LIRR report card.)
The good thing is that O’Leary recently admitted to a tourism conference that the whole thing was nothing more than a PR stunt. He said “It’s NOT LIKELY to happen.” Although that doesn’t sound to me like an idea that’s completely off the table . But O’Leary’s let the cat out of the bag! Remember when the first airline proposed charging you for anything more than one piece of luggage? Boy, was that an idea that caught on fast with the other airlines! Who’s to say another airline won’t implement the “pay to pee” plan, as it’s been dubbed. Like I said before, these days money is so tight, anything’s possible!