Plans To Sell Standing Room Tickets For About $7.50, Charge For Lav Use

Irish discount carrier Ryanair still hope to be able to offer tickets for as low as about $7.50 at current exchange rates if passengers are willing to stand at the back of the plane.

The airline has come up with something it calls "vertical seats", basically a place to lean and strap in with a slightly angled "seat" that it hopes to install at the back of it's entire fleet of 250 airplanes. The strap-hangers would take up about the last 10 rows of the passenger cabin.

A Ryanair spokesman told the Telegraph that safety testing is planned for next year, but a Civil Aviation Authority spokesman said that it would be a struggle to meat safety requirements for the "seats". "It's aviation law that people have to have a seat-belt on (for) take-off and landing so they would have to be in a seat. I don't know how Mr O'Leary would get around that one. During turbulence passengers also have to have a seat-belt on," the spokesman said.

In another attempt to increase the "bottom" line, which would not require new safety testing, Ryanair CEO Micael O'Leary also said he is planning to charge passengers on flights under an hour in duration one pound sterling to use the lavatory. He said that would encourage passengers on the short hops to use the restroom at the airport rather than on the plane.

Yep ... flying commercial sure is a glamorous way to get around.

FMI: www.ryanair.com