With apologies to SI, here's the latest sign the apocalypse is upon us.
Dateline: The UK
Flash! Ryanair, the international leader in cheap seats and pay toilets, now wants to offer "porno clips" on its planned in-flight pay TV service. (Source,
UK Sun)
Michael O'Leary, the owner of Ryanair, said, "Hotels around the world have it, so why wouldn't we?"
Come on! Does no one see a problem with this?
For one, there is a difference between a hotel and an airliner. It's called PRIVACY. If someone chooses to watch it on a pay channel in his hotel room, I don't have to see it walking through the lobby or in the restaurant or the fitness center or pool or anywhere else in the hotel. That person does so in the privacy of his room.
There is no privacy on an airliner at 35,000 feet.
Every in-flight system I've seen -- whether the TV screen pops up from the armrest or is embedded in the seat back in front of you -- has one thing in common: The screen can be seen by all of the other people sitting on the row and by those walking down the isle.
Even if the pay service is streamed over an onboard wireless internet, personal computers and smartphones are no less visible to fellow passengers.
I guess they could confine the service to onboard toilets -- that's about the only place on the plane that might be considered private... but oh, that's right. I forgot. Ryanair wants to remove two of the three toilets on it's planes (more room for more seats = more money) and on top of that, the airline would like nothing more than to make the last one a
toll toilet! (Don't ever board a Ryanair flight without plenty of change.)
Patricia Magana of the SmarterTravel newsletter wonders if Ryanair will have designated "X-rated" sections on their aircraft. And which passengers will have to pay more? The people who want to sit in the XXX section, or those who don't?
Perhaps the airline can just sell blinders for minor children?
That could really help Ryanair's bottom line; make people pay more for the privilege of NOT being exposed to unwanted porn.
Sheesh!
