Would you give up the right to spend a penny inflight in return for saving a few bucks on your airline ticket?
An unscientific survey from Expedia found that some passengers would back themselves to cross their legs on short-haul, low-cost flights. The online booking firm polled 1500 travellers from France, Germany, Ireland, Spain and the UK on issues around low-cost airlines.
Gamely, 14 per cent of respondents said they would give up the use of a toilet on the plane in return for cheaper ticket prices. A couple of things to bear in mind: Firstly, the survey was focused on low-cost carriers in Europe, so the people responding are probably pretty comfortable with the idea of crossing their legs for an hour or so between Stansted and Barcelona; secondly, it's a self-selecting survey, so don't read too much into the results.
However, it raises an interesting idea. No airline would be bonkers enough to fly without toilets at all. But what about chucking out one of the johns in a shorthaul A320 and installing a couple more seats, then charging passengers for the use of the one remaining toilet?
It puts an incentive on passengers to go to the loo before boarding, therefore (hopefully) fewer people would need to use the toilet. Crucially it would produce cheaper ticket prices all round.
