Ryanair is talking about making passengers pay for toilets & people are furious
RYANAIR’S efforts to make extra cash by charging for hand luggage and airport check-ins have been infamous over the years.
And the budget airline has been raising blood pressures again this week, by raising the contentious issue of making passengers pay to use plane toilets.
The airline made headlines around 13 years ago, when the CEO Michael O’Leary first broached the unpopular topic.
And the Ryanair social media team, which has become famous in its own right for trolling customers, reignited the conversation on its TikTok page – causing outrage.
In the video, Ryanair teased passengers with the idea that they’d need to pay to use the airline’s toilets in the future.
A caption over the video read: “Are you really going to charge people to use the toilet?”
It then showed a member of staff trying to dodge the question by running away from the camera and jumping down a slide.
Despite being a joke, the video has had more than 1.8 million views with many passengers left believing the charge was real.
One person said: “Even if it’s only €0.50, that might be a reason I don’t fly Ryanair anymore – you have to draw a line somewhere.”
Another person added: “As someone with kidney/bladder problems this is so wild and so unfair if this is real.”
Winding people up even further, a comment from the official Ryanair account then added: “[The charges] will come into effect on 30th February 2024” – a date that doesn’t exist.
The efforts to wind up passengers have clearly worked, with several TikTok users responding to the video with their own posts.
One TikTok user called The Travel Bae, responded to the video and seriously addressed the joke claims.
He said: “We could be charged up to €2 to use the toilets on board Ryanair planes from as early as 2024.
“This is all speculation at the moment, but Ryanair has released two consecutive TikTok videos hinting that they could be introducing a new charge for passengers.
“This is all because the CEO of Ryanair believes that charging passengers to go to the toilet onboard the planes will make people want to go to the toilet before they board or after they arrive at the destination at the airport.
“Less passengers using toilets on board the planes and they’ll be able to reduce the number of toilets and replace them with seats – meaning more money for Ryanair.”
In 2009, Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary said he was serious about charging his passengers to use the onboard toilet.
He announced at the time: “We have looked into this before and the problem is Boeing can’t come up with a mechanism on the toilet door to take coins.
“We’re suggesting they go back and look at a mechanism where you’d swipe the credit card for a quid on the toilet door. They’ve gone off to look at that.”
Sun Online Travel has contacted Ryanair for comment.
This is nowhere near the first time that the budget airline has been playful on social media.
Recently, the airline had a cheeky response for a passenger who had paid for a window seat but didn’t have a window.
Meanwhile, this underused Ryanair luggage trick will save you extra on cabin fees.