Airline passenger news and views

We have got used to read the words 'Ryanair' and 'toilet' in the same sentence: in 2009 the low-budget airline proposed to charge per lavatory use, a money-saving initiative finally dropped by the company.

Now, officials from Ryanair have announced that they want to remove two or three of their plane's lavatories and replace them with up to six extra seats.

Michael O'Leary, the airline's controversial chief executive, revealed the proposals during an interview with The Independent. According to him, the move would "fundamentally lower air fares by about five per cent for all passengers".

"We're trying to push Boeing to recertify the aircraft for six more seats, particularly for short-haul flights. We very rarely use all three toilets on board our aircraft anyway," he added.

Said like that, it sounds like O'Leary is doing us a favour. If you have a £100 flight, this would be reduced to £95. In return, you would be forced to share bathroom facilities with up to 199 more passengers and six crew members during a flight.

Ryanair's longest British route is from Rhodes to Liverpool, taking 4 hours 25 minutes. Is the saving worth eternal queues and mid-air accidents? Obviously yes, but only for the airline.

The company has already installed 189 seats on each plane, the maximum allowed under current rules for their one aircraft type, a Boeing 737-800.

Ryanair plays with the fact that there is no legal stipulation for an airline to provide toilets on its aircraft. But this situation alone would not suffice to silence critics.

A spokesman for Association of British Travel Agents (ABTA) said "We all know how inconvenient it can be if a toilet on a plane is out of order or the annoyance of queuing if someone has air sickness in one of the cubicles. This move could be a step too far in Ryanair's on-going mission to provide a totally no-frills service."

Ryanair has been recently criticised for the introduction of its Cash Passport. Having the company's own card is the only way to avoid a £6 "administration fee" charge. In addition to that, the Office of Fair Trading is investigating a "super-complaint" by the Consumers' Association into charges by low-cost airlines and excessive card fees.