Ryanair: "We will never eject passengers"

NEWS | SATIRE

Budget airline Ryanair has announced it will never eject passengers from over-booked flights, following the recent United Airlines controversy. The US carrier caused outrage when a passenger was forcefully removed from an aircraft so that a crew member could sit down.

It is common practice for airlines to over-book flights, on the assumption that a number of passengers will forget they're going on holiday and simply not turn up at the airport. Ever keen to capitalise on anything and jump on a bandwagon, Ryanair's boss Michael O'Leary has announced that he will abolish the need to ever eject anyone from an over-booked flight, by “finding room for everyone, somewhere.”

O'Leary, 56, went on to say: “Planes are big, except when they're far away; and people are small, so it's really not that difficult is it? For starters, Ryanair will never ask paying passengers to vacate a plane for our staff. We're often short of staff, so we might ask passengers to be flight crew instead. The result? Never another cancelled flight because of staff shortages. How many people have ever dreamed of being a pilot and flying a real life plane? At Ryanair, we make dreams come true.”

Asked what the airline's policy was on over-booking, O'Leary said: “Our passengers pay fuck all for their flights, before we add all the stealth charges on. We've not even announced our latest: A door policy, where customers pay an extra charge to actually get on the plane. But we will make them pay, and get them on our flights. Our customers don't expect much. We're pushing the CAA to licence our standing-only cabins, where passengers just hang onto a strap, like when they're on the Tube. While we still have to waste a load of space with seats, people can sit on laps. There's plenty of room in the aisles: We have no on-board services to speak of, so our cabin crew don't need the aisles. Result? More room for passengers. We're reducing the hand baggage allowance, so people with children can stuff them in the overhead compartments. And we've got the cargo hold. You can always fold granny up and put her in a suitcase, just so long as you buy her a ticket.”