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Ryanair / LCCs / Airline News / Airline Fees / Michael O'Leary / Toilets / → All Tags

Ryanair Threatens to Remove Toilets from Flights. Yawn.

We have to imagine there's some kind of countdown timer in the offices of Irish LCC Ryanair. The clock ticks down second by second, and when the buzzer goes off it's time for the airline's customers-are-there-for-abusing CEO Michael O'Leary to say something outrageous about airline fees or peeing or airline fees for peeing. That way Ryanair can solidify its "no frills" branding, before turning around and—per a BBC expose—"duping customers with hidden fees." Marketing is magic.

Apparently the publicity timer recently hit zero, because O'Leary just gave this grating interview to The Independent. His new proposal is to remove two of the three toilets in every Ryanair Boeing 737-800, and to use the resulting space to install a total of six new seats.

That would allow the airline to stuff 195 passengers into every flight, instead of the 189 to which they're currently limited, and so they claim they're asking Boeing to sign off on the safety issues. Like so many other Ryanair brainstorms, we doubt this will go anywhere.

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T2 at SFO / SFO / Airports / San Francisco Travel / Toilets / → All Tags

Who Knew an Airport Bathroom Could Be So Nice?

[Note: we've only seen the ladies room]

The cleaning lady thought we were crazy taking pictures inside a restroom, but the public restrooms at Terminal 2 at San Francisco International Airport are actually something to write home about.

Flattering lighting, stools in the makeup room and—boy oh boy—Dyson Airblade hand dryers? Be still our frequent flying hearts!

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Sex Travel / Political Travel / MSP / Airports / Toilets / Larry Craig / Gay Travel / Celeb Travel / → All Tags

Weinergate of the Past: Where is the Senator Larry Craig Stall at Minneapolis Airport?

In the midst of all the Weinergate 2011 talk, it's important to step back and realize that America has a fine history of sexual political intrigue, and that sometimes we come closer to the history of it than we expect. Take, for example, the infamous Senator Larry Craig bathroom at Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport.

It's been almost four years to the date (June 11, 2007) when Idaho Senator Craig was arrested for "lewd behavior" after making the foot-tapping signals to initiate a gay sex encounter in one of the numerous men's restrooms at the airport. As the story goes, the man he was signalling to was actually an undercover cop, and Larry was cuffed and booked.

The bathroom still exists just as it was, and just this morning was watched as travelers unwittingly passed by or through it. If you'd not like to miss out on the chance to note this odd little landmark in American Political History, we'll help you find it:

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Toilets / Train Travel / Zurich Travel / Switzerland Travel / Europe Travel / → All Tags

Peeing in Switzerland: Yep, Even This Will Cost Ya

Ryanair isn't the only one in love with the idea of pee fees; European train stations have elevated it from just an idea to a practice, installing many automatic pay bathrooms to serve the tens of thousands of travelers who pass through every day. One such station is the Zürich Hauptbahnhof in Switzerland, known as a hustley-bustley nexus for trains around the continent.

The pee fee area is hilariously named "McClean," though not associated with the Golden Arches in any way. It's a fancy pee station; there's also the option of taking a shower or just using a vanity to freshen up, although you have to pay extra, of course.

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What's the Deal with Airport Bathroom Attendants?

Airport washroom attendants. Yes, they do exist. Don't be frightened when you enter the bathroom at Charlotte-Douglas International Airport, because there will be an airport employee there to greet you, guide you to an available stall, and even pump the hand towel machine for you. It's weird and potentially off-putting and no other US airport seems to have this, so what's the deal with them?

The issue of the CLT bathroom attendants is pretty common; even skateboarder Tony Hawk has tweeted about them, and it wasn't until a friend ran into them during a US Airways layover this weekend that we realized how unsettling the unexpected interaction can be. Heck—the best restaurants and five-star hotels with happening lobby scenes don't even use attendants any more. So why this airport?

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Airports / HND / Tokyo Travel / Travel Snapshot / Japan Travel / Toilets / → All Tags

Can You Believe This is an Airport Toilet?

Airport bathrooms are—as Larry Craig could tell you—not exactly the most sanitary or safe places. The exception to this is, of course, spick and span Japan, especially with their newly opened international terminal at Tokyo-Haneda Airport. We had the opportunity to swing by the opening festivities a couple months ago while we were in Tokyo (see all those fun stories here), and aside from the old Tokyo mini-amusement park and other curiosities of the terminal, we were really taken by the attention to detail on everything else...including the public toilets.

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Airplane Bathrooms / Lufthansa A380 First Flight / FRA / Lufthansa / A380 / XFW / Jaunted Reporting Live / Lufthansa A380 / First Class Travel / Toilets / → All Tags

Lufthansa's A380 First Class Has the Airplane Toilet of Our Dreams

We're literally just coming down from our first Lufthansa A380 flight experience, and even though we were stuck with a middle seat in economy, we did manage to sneak around upstairs in the First and Business class sections.

In this A380 superjumbo plane, there's a plethora of new features that had us saying "WHAAT?! That is awesome!" A few of these include USB ports for charging or playing media from your mobile devices in all classes, touchscreen TVs with three channels of outside live view cameras, and massively upgraded bathrooms.

The latter, the bathrooms, were obviously most crazy-impressive in First Class, whose new design wasn't unveiled at all until yesterday, when we stepped onboard at Hamburg's Finkenwerder airfield, the private tarmac of Airbus. To see exactly what we mean by "crazy-impressive bathrooms," check out a video tour and our photo gallery after the jump!

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Airplane Bathrooms / ANA / Toilets / Airplanes / Airplane News / Airlines / Airline News / Japan Travel / → All Tags

ANA Announces Women-Only Airplane Lavatories

Japanese airline ANA seems to be developing a thing for tinkering with how their passengers use toilets. Last October they began asking passengers to pee before boarding the airplane. Now comes the announcement that they're setting up women's-only airplane lavatories (PDF) in response to "numerous requests from passengers."

The new policy goes into effect March 1st and will apply only to international flights, during which a single lavatory in the back of the airplane will be marked with a pink women-only sign. Exceptions to the policy include safety considerations, personal emergencies, and when there aren't a lot of women in the cabin. In the final case the crew will formally lift the women-only designation for the duration of the flight. All the other bathrooms remain unisex - there are no men's-only bathrooms.

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Oman Air's New Toilet Is Set To Flush The Competition

If there’s one sign that the economy is on the rebound, it’s probably not the fact that the market topped 10,000 yesterday. The true test of economic recovery comes with crazy luxurious lavatories aboard commercial airliners. Back before the bust, Emirates was all about promoting their shower for the classiest of first class flyers lucky enough to travel the world on the A380. However, now Oman Air wants a piece of the action, and they’re going to do it with their toilet.

Details are limited at this point, but we’re suckers for their trap, and we want to know more already. The airline is ordering up some new Airbus A330-300 aircraft and they’re planning to install the swanky bathrooms aboard the new planes. Only the pilot and first class customers will have access to the lavatory that sits right behind the cockpit. Besides the toilet there will be a bidet, Amouage products, and plenty of other lotions, colognes, and perfumes to keep passengers so fresh and so clean.

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Bad Ideas / ANA / Bathrooms / Toilets / Airline Fees / → All Tags

ANA Politely Requests You Pee Somewhere That's Not On Their Airplane

Among the many, many problems that arise out of Ryanair's ongoing success—they're up another 17% by the way—is that people start to think like Ryanair executives. Japanese airline ANA, perhaps inspired by the "we'll charge you for the bathroom" shenanigans of Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary, has taken to trying to regulate the urination of its passengers by urging them to pee before they board. This can't be for real, right?

Sounds like it is, though:

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Ayers Rock / Australia Travel / Toilets / Travel Health / → All Tags

Australia Says No To Pooping On Uluru

The last time we mentioned the big red rock that is Uluru, a major tourist attraction almost smack-bang in the middle of Australia, it was with the relatively reasonable question of should we climb it or not, given the apparent dangers and the feelings of the local Aboriginal people. This time though, Uluru is up for discussion because, unbelievably, some tourists are using the top of the rock as a toilet.

As Northern Territory boss Paul Henderson said this week: "It is outrageous and offensive that tourists are defecating on top of Uluru, an Aboriginal sacred site." You can say that again. A tour operator admitted that some tourists even took a roll of toilet paper with them, despite knowing that there were no toilet facilities of any kind at the top of the rock, and no soil or sand to dig in.

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Airline Fees / Toilets / Airline News / Ryanair / → All Tags

Ryanair Will First Charge You To Pee, Then Take Away Your Toilet

It's back! Even though Ryanair's CEO Michael O'Leary would have us believe that their threat to begin charging to use the airplane bathroom never left the table, we still can't believe that this issue has resurfaced.

The pay-to=pee idea has returned because, after all of the laughing and "you're kidding, right?" died down, Ryanair has reaffirmed their commitment to bringing this incredibly miserly fee to the skies. Although no firm dates have been announced, O'Leary did say that it would be within the next two years, a time frame which could be moved up if Boeing quickly figures out a way to install credit card machines on stall doors.

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