After Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary talked publicly about an idea to charge for using the onboard lavatory, many people wondered what the discount Irish airline might consider charging for next. Oxygen? Seems to be.
Actually, this is not a new policy for Ryanair but it made headlines recently when a man with cystic fibrosis was informed he would have to pay £100 (about $162) to have a standby oxygen cylinder he needed to fly from Scotland to Sweden in August. Ryanair does not allow passengers to bring their own cylinders of the flammable gas on board for safety reasons.
The passenger, Anders Gibson, was told by his doctor he needed the oxygen for the 90-minute flight. Gibson says Ryanair’s policy is discriminatory. Others agree, including the British Lung Foundation and the Pulmonary Hypertension Association UK. Some people say airlines would never dream of charging people for wheelchair usage and this case should be no different.
So is this just another way to make money on fees or is it a safety issue? Probably the latter, but O’Leary’s controversial comments and enthusiastic pursuit of the almighty dollar (or pound, in this case) certainly make it hard to tell.
Funny how the payment of 100 pounds sterling makes an “unsafe” oxygen cylinder “safe” for air transportation.
@Jeff Well the point is that they don’t trust the passenger’s oxygen tank, and the charge for use of RyanAir’s oxygen tank – which is presumably checked and “safe” – is £100.