Ryanair Toilets Removed For New Seating

By: Jennifer Hong
10/14/2011 08:38 AM ET

Ryanair cuts cost by removing toilets. The European low-cost airline has announced it would remove two of the three lavatories on its planes to make room for six extra seats. Passengers are now worried, but at least they won’t have to pay to use the bathroom, a plan the airline already abandoned.

According to CEO Michael O’Leary, this move would lower fares by five percent. That amounts to a £2 saving on a £40 ticket, reports The Independent.

“We’re trying to push Boeing to re-certify the aircraft for six more seats, particularly for short-haul flights”, O’Leary told the paper. “We very rarely use all three toilets on board our aircraft anyway.”

Ryainair’s fleet is solely comprised of Boeing 737-800 aircraft. If Boeing agrees to the added seats, there’s nothing to stop the bathroom cuts, as there’s no law mandating that airplanes have toilets.

This isn’t the first move by the airline that’s raised eyebrows. Ryanair came under fire back in June with its policy of charging passengers to print a boarding pass. Singer Lily Allen even took to her twitter to protest the “40 quid” charge. In September, it was announced that Ryanair would charge a fee to purchase tickets with any credit card besides the airline’s own prepaid MasterCard.

There was also the time Ryanair gave a sandwich to a passenger suffering cardiac arrest and then charged him for it. Ryanair isn’t the only airline to employ creative cost cutting. American budget airline Spirit instituted a $5 fee to print boarding passes that will go into effect November 1, 2011.