Am I Missing Something?

[andy hughes]

The chairman of Ryan Air wants to do away with check-in desks and baggae handling, to reduce costs. Fine so far, but he advises people to buy their holiday clothes at their destination ... so how do they get them home again? He also advocates that skiers hire equipment on arrival, so if you;ve bought a set of skis, do you leave them at home, and then hire some more? Am I being over-simplistic here, or is Mr Chairman failing to think through his ideas beforre advising them to the nation?

[rja211077]

this story baffled me too. i just can't believe it's economical to fly a fleet of planes around Europe carrying a huge empty void (the baggage hold). or maybe he'll put passengers in there...it wouldn't surprise me. i think he's ben on the Guinness myself. mind you - i sense a business opportunity - disposable clothes anybody?

[Jetwriter]

At all major flight destinations expect to see "Ryan Air Holiday Apparel Rental Booths" appearing. And deckchairs blu-takked to the hold floor, complete with oxygen cylinders and masks will make for the sub-bargain basement flight price bracket.

[BenDToy]

Is it possible he is paving the way to start charging passengers for luggage by weight? So much per kilo. By getting people to think about how cheap it would be to replace a lot of their holiday gear, they would perhaps be more open to the idea. After all it costs him in the same way. It doesn't cost much to fly an empty hold - it doesn't weigh a great deal!

[SteveD]

Ryanair is a bus service. OK, the busses fly, but it's a bus service nontheless. For security reasons, I can't see how they can abolish check-in desks and they must be able to identify each passenger. I think we can expect Ryanair to start charging per kilo of baggage in the near future. Money for jam, I reckon because the cost of flying an aircraft from A to B with or without luggage in the hold ust be about the same. Ryanair would still have to pay for baggage handling services even for one suitcase. My main gripe with Ryanair is the lack of seat allocation which results in a stampede to avoid the middle seat. It doesn't need expensive computer software to avoid this; just a sheet of sticky, numbered labels attached to the boarding pass on a first come, first served basis.

[bluedolphin]

Weight is crucial in economizing on aviation fuel....some times pilots will recirculate the air in the aircraft just to save fuel rather than drag some in from outside.... anyway think of urself when u use ryan air....coz that is what the chairman is doing....

[archbishop]

70% of Ryanair passengers have a journey of 2 days or less.Ryanair also has the lowest hold baggage allowance of any major airline(15Kg) and the highest excess charge(can't remember).As bluedolphin says the less weight the less fuel is needed.Ryanair reckon that by getting rid of hold baggage or making you pay for it they will make a saving of �5 per passenger which they say will be passed on(yeah course it will).

[David Black]

Just to take it to the logical end point how about charging customers by weight? Although it sounds silly apparently some US airlines are starting to charge for two seats in respect of grossly obese people.

[Tat]

charging by total weight is an idea i'm mildly obsessed with! the staff just stutter at me when they try and charge me for my over weight luggage when i tell them i was 3 stone heavier last time i flew and they didn't charge me then! it really annoys me. la la la i'm mental aren't i!?

[apricot]

Maybe he has plans to put freight in the hold?

[thewillow]

Apricot - No, Michael O'Leary says he isn't going to take on cargo. That would only increase turnaround time which Ryanair is trying to reduce all the time.

[thewillow]

PS - I rather liked the recent comment from one of Ryanair's managers at Stansted. He is alleged to have told cockpit crew that they "might just as well join the Taliban" as sign up to the British Airline Pilots' Association (Balpa).

[kwd1954]

So I go abroad on business and carry an overnight bag and my briefcase. But now I can't since there is only room for one piece of luggage. I also can't take my razor blade for a shave first thing in the morning but have to find a shop open when I get there (some airports shops aren't 24 hours). I also need to wear my suit to travel in since my suit bag is too big for the lockers. Come on Ryanair GET REAL !!!

[BenDToy]

You pays your money, you takes your choice...!

[Pinotage]

SteveD says you need check-in desks to be able to identify each passenger, but that - to my mind - does no good at all. What they check is there is photo-id that matches the name the ticket was booked in. What security does that afford? Seems more like a check to stop passengers selling their unwanted tickets.

Until Sep 11 no photo-id was needed in internal flights and its hard to see what difference it makes now, except to hassle innocents. After all, the Sep 11 hijackers had valid ID.

The check of passports and id can be done at boarding time, checkin desk is not needed by Ryan.

[slimjim]

For info, I fly on internal flights without ever going to a check-in desk. I check-in online and print-off my boarding card before going to the airport. Don't see why this couldn't be done for international flights too. It is the job of the security people to confirm you are ok not the check-in people.