(CNN) – Duty-free shopping onboard may no longer be limited to watches and perfume. Ryanair is considering offering in-flight pornography to its passengers, according to a report on Tuesday in The Sun.
The racy content would be broadcast through a custom Ryanair app for smartphones and tablets. Michael O’Leary, chief executive of the Dublin-based discount airline, told the Sun, “Hotels around the world have it, so why wouldn’t we?” He said that pornography would be available only via the relative privacy of mobile devices and would not be shown on seat-back television screens.
This isn’t the first time O’Leary has displayed a “sex sells” ethos for his airline. In 2008, he made flippant comments to the media about offering “beds and b***jobs” in business class. The airline has also published an annual “Girls of Ryanair” calendar since the same year, featuring its female flight attendants in bikinis.
The Irish budget airline’s business model relies on controversial nickel-and-diming practices, or at least the threat of them. Airline officials discussed removing toilets or creating vertical “standing” seats to make room for additional seating, and converting toilets to a coin-operated system.
Ryanair has come under fire from passengers multiple times this year for charging piecemeal fees. British singer Lily Allen criticized the airline on Twitter for charging her 40 pounds to print a replacement boarding pass. A scuffle also broke out on a Canary Islands flight after a passenger was asked to pay an extra fee for a large piece of carry-on luggage. A Swedish man who went into cardiac arrest onboard was given as treatment a sandwich and soda by staff and later charged for it.
Clearly, the airline has been successfully grabbing headlines around the world. And despite the controversies, the airline appears to be doing something right: Ryanair reported that its passenger statistics in October 2011 increased 4% year-on-year.
Do passengers in Ryanair get private berths? No? Then give me a seat which is not next to one that is already taken, please. Thank you. Oh wait, someone has already been in this seat today... in your incoming flight. Yes, of course, I see. How thorough is the cleaning routine in Ryanair again?
...
EasyJet it is, then.
CotK <mew> | HAB | JL | MM | TTC | Cybertron
TAX THE CHURCHES! - Lord Zentei TTC Supreme Grand Prophet
And the LORD said, Let there be Bosons! Yea and let there be Bosoms too!
I'd rather be the great great grandson of a demon ninja than some jackass who grew potatos. -- Covenant
Dead cows don't fart. -- CJvR
...and I like strudel! -- Asuka
Just another publicity stunt by Ryanair. They pull this every year - porn, strippers, prostitutes - they "consider" this every few months, feed it to the media and enjoy free publicity.
the fact that people are still fooled about this when it happens every three years is astonishing.
Whoever says "education does not matter" can try ignorance
------------
A decision must be made in the life of every nation at the very moment when the grasp of the enemy is at its throat. Then, it seems that the only way to survive is to use the means of the enemy, to rest survival upon what is expedient, to look the other way. Well, the answer to that is 'survival as what'? A country isn't a rock. It's not an extension of one's self. It's what it stands for. It's what it stands for when standing for something is the most difficult! - Chief Judge Haywood
------------ My LPs
I'm more curious about the fact that it's supposedly good for business. I guess its true in this case that any publicity is better than no publicity or they wouldn't keep doing it.
CotK <mew> | HAB | JL | MM | TTC | Cybertron
TAX THE CHURCHES! - Lord Zentei TTC Supreme Grand Prophet
And the LORD said, Let there be Bosons! Yea and let there be Bosoms too!
I'd rather be the great great grandson of a demon ninja than some jackass who grew potatos. -- Covenant
Dead cows don't fart. -- CJvR
...and I like strudel! -- Asuka
This is pre-WWII. You can sort of tell from the sketch style, from thee way it refers to Japan (Japan in the 1950s was still rebuilding from WWII), the spelling of Tokyo, lots of details. Nothing obvious... except that the upper right hand corner of the page reads "November 1931." --- Simon_Jester
Except when you're sitting next to complete strangers, I would have thought (besides which, it's bullshit).
But whatever.
CotK <mew> | HAB | JL | MM | TTC | Cybertron
TAX THE CHURCHES! - Lord Zentei TTC Supreme Grand Prophet
And the LORD said, Let there be Bosons! Yea and let there be Bosoms too!
I'd rather be the great great grandson of a demon ninja than some jackass who grew potatos. -- Covenant
Dead cows don't fart. -- CJvR
...and I like strudel! -- Asuka
It's good for business because their whole image is based on being as cheap as possible. By getting these things in the papers they're getting their name out there while reinforcing their image as an airline that will do anything to lower prices. Everyone knows they're not actually getting rid of the seats and such, so they're left with simply being cheap, which is their selling point.
Thanas wrote:Just another publicity stunt by Ryanair. They pull this every year - porn, strippers, prostitutes - they "consider" this every few months, feed it to the media and enjoy free publicity.
the fact that people are still fooled about this when it happens every three years is astonishing.
I think O'Leary has outright publically admitted this. Not that that would stop the media from lapping it up. They get more space in papers from these stunts than they could buy with their year's advertising budget.
If everyone hates them then why do people still fly with them? Is saving a little money worth being treated like crap?
"If it's true that our species is alone in the universe, then I'd have to say that the universe aimed rather low and settled for very little." -George Carlin (1937-2008)
"Have some of you Americans actually seen Football? Of course there are 0-0 draws but that doesn't make them any less exciting." -Dr Roberts, with quite possibly the dumbest thing ever said in 10 years of SDNet.
Darth Fanboy wrote:If everyone hates them then why do people still fly with them? Is saving a little money worth being treated like crap?
For a lot of people it obviously is. It's hardly that much worse than the other options. Flying economy class is unpleasant whoever you do it with, and for a short haul flight it really doesn't make that much difference if you're not worried about ticket flexibility.
-- Asuka
