Ryanair is Europe’s largest low cost carrier. The airline is currently only operating a skeleton schedule of about 30 daily flights between Ireland, the UK, and Europe.
Details have just been revealed about how Ryanair service will be ramped up, including an interesting policy on bathroom usage, which will probably make many of us feel like we’re back in school.
Ryanair will resume 40% of flights in July 2020
Ryanair intends to resume roughly 40% of the usual flight schedule as of July 1, 2020, subject to government restrictions on intra-EU flights being lifted, and effective public health measures being put in place at airports.
This means that Ryanair will operate nearly 1,000 daily flights, while restoring almost 90% of routes (though with reduced frequencies).
Ryanair’s COVID-19 safety precautions
Ryanair Group CEO Michael O’Leary has been an outspoken critic of blocking middle seats, going so far as to say that Ryanair wouldn’t resume flying if such a requirement were in place.
Ryanair 737
Nonetheless the airline is taking quite some steps to keep passengers as safe as possible, and has outlined some of those policies:
- Ryanair is encouraging people to check in online and use the self bag drop feature
- Ryanair passengers and crews will be required to wear face masks
- Inflight service will be limited to pre-packaged snacks and drinks, and cash won’t be accepted, to minimize contact
- Queuing for toilets will be prohibited, though will be made available to individual passengers upon request
Here’s a video Ryanair put together about their new policies:
Ryanair’s bathroom policy
Funny enough, about a decade ago Ryanair floated the idea of charging to use lavatories. The airline had considered this at the time because they wanted to reduce the number of lavatories on planes and add more seats, and they figured people would be less likely to use lavatories if they had to pay to use them.
Now Ryanair is becoming the first airline I know of to add restrictions on bathroom use, though for legitimate reasons. I’m really curious to see how this will work in practice.
I totally see the logic of wanting to limit the number of people queuing in the aisles, but what’s the plan here? Will this be like school, where you have to ask a teacher permission to go to the bathroom?
That’s the only logical process I can think of, so I guess we’ll see if that’s how it actually works.
Ryanair will limit passenger bathroom usage
Bottom line
Ryanair plans on resuming 40% of flights as of July 2020, which is significant. While Ryanair won’t be blocking middle seats, the airline is taking all kinds of other initiatives to keep passengers as safe as possible.
The most interesting initiative no doubt is that they’ll be controlling passenger bathroom usage. There’e merit to limiting the queuing in the aisle, though I’m curious how this will actually work…
Frankly I would have bene disappointed if Ryanair weren’t the first airline to add restrictions on bathroom usage. 😉
(Tip of the hat to Paddle Your Own Kanoo)
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