Quoted Text

Let stewardesses land the plane in a crisis, says Ryanair boss: Airline wants to ditch co-pilots

Ryanair's ever-controversial boss has called for the second pilot to be dumped from the flight deck of aircraft to save money.

Michael O'Leary suggested air stewardesses could be trained to take over and land the plane in the event of a crisis.

The idea is the latest in a long line of cash-saving wheezes from the budget airline boss who once suggested, apparently seriously, that aircraft could fly with standing-only areas for passengers.

Mr O'Leary suggested ripping up the existing safety regime in a magazine interview.

'Why does every plane have two pilots? Really, you only need one pilot,' he said.

Suggesting flying a plane was little more difficult than playing a computer game, he said: 'Let's take out the second pilot. Let the bloody computer fly it.'

Asked what would happen if the single pilot suffered a heart attack, he said one of the cabin crew would be trained to land a plane.

'If the pilot has an emergency, he rings the bell, he calls her in. She could take over,' he told Bloomberg BusinessWeek.

But the idea was immediately ridiculed as a dangerous fantasy by pilots.

Patrick Smith, a long-serving pilot, told the magazine it was 'beyond preposterous'.

He accused Mr O'Leary of stoking the common misconception that planes more or less fly themselves.

'Even in routine operations, it's important to have a second person there,' he said.

Jim McAuslan, general secretary of the British Airline Pilots' Association, said: 'Are there no lengths to which he will not go to get publicity? His suggestion is unwise, unsafe and the public will be horrified.'

Mr O'Leary has turned Ryanair into one of the world's most profitable airlines by tearing up industry conventions with his 'cattle class' operation.

He appears both to enjoy the controversy his remarks cause as well as being more than half serious. When he dreamed up the idea of standing only areas for passengers he suggested they would hang on to a handrail during take-off and landing.

Another idea was to charge for using the aircraft lavatories.

Following the volcano ash cloud crisis, Mr O'Leary initially announced a cap on the support and compensation to passengers, only to be forced into a Uturn by the EU.

This summer, he infuriated many by introducing a baggage charge for the summer holiday season, which brought a massive increase in the cost of putting luggage in the hold.

Mr O'Leary suggested there is still a long way to go and that many other costs that can be removed to make flights as cheap as possible.

For example, there could come a time when airport baggage handling systems are scrapped in favour of passengers loading their own cases into the hold. Airports are ludicrously complicated places only because we have this utterly useless transaction of taking your bag from you upon departure, just so we can give it back to you at arrival,' he said. 'Get rid of all that ****.'

Mr O'Leary said that while some may ridicule his ideas, they set the template for the way airlines will operate in future.

'For a small little Mickey Mouse Irish airline, the whole industry around the world now watches what we do,' he said.

'If you don't approach air travel with a radical point of view, then you get in the same bloody mindset as all the other morons in this industry.

'In many ways, travel is pleasant and enriching. It's just that the physical process of getting from point A to point B shouldn't be pleasant, nor enriching. It should be quick, efficient, affordable, and safe.'

But Kate Hanni, the founder of FlyersRights.org, a passenger advocacy group, said:

'He insults the dignity of the flying public every time he opens his mouth.'

Quoted Text

Passengers back family-only section

Three in five air passengers would like to see family-only sections on planes, according to a poll.

And as many as 25% of people without children said they would like to see child-free flights, the survey by travel research site Skyscanner found

The biggest support (68%) for family-only sections on flights came from non-parents among the 2,000 people surveyed.

Only 8% of those without children reckoned people should be able to sit where they like on planes, with nearly 70% wanting to sit "as far away as possible from children".

Of those who were parents, 45% said they did not want a families-only section because they preferred not to sit next to "other people's horrors" while 24% disagreed with the idea because they felt that people should be able to "sit where they liked".

Just 31% of parents were in favour of an allocated section for families.

Other suggestions put forward included the provision of a baby nursery and only allowing well-behaved children to travel. One respondent suggested "children should go in the hold".

Skyscanner public relations manager Mary Porter said: "As a relatively new mum myself I can still remember that feeling of dread when you found yourself seated next to a baby on a long flight.

"However since regularly flying with my one-year-old, I am much more aware of what a stressful, and often embarrassing, situation it can be for parents.

"When tempers are frayed, a screaming child can cause a major disturbance for fellow passengers."

Quoted Text

Why ∏A = gUG + min(k-g, (1-g)(1-r)) equals low airline fares

Research shows that the optimum time to book your airline ticket is eight weeks before travelling


It is a question that anyone booking a holiday or business trip will have asked themselves countless times: exactly when is the best time to buy an advance plane ticket to fly at the cheapest price?

Leave it too late and prices shoot up, and there is a danger the flight will be fully booked. But book too early and you run the risk that plans may change and you will be out of pocket if you don't travel or have to alter the flight.

Help is at hand. An economist, Makoto Watanabe, has calculated that the optimum time to buy an airline ticket is eight weeks in advance of flying.

His yet-to-be-published findings also suggests that airline tickets are cheaper when purchased in the afternoons, rather than the mornings, prompting him to speculate that airlines are assuming business travellers will book their tickets at work in the morning on the company account, whereas leisure travellers are more likely to book from home in the afternoon.

The eight-week result stems from work published in the latest edition of the Economic Journal in which Watanabe and his colleague, Marc Möller, offer intimidating equations such as ∏A = gUG + min(k - g, (1 - g)(1 - r)) as part of the complex formula, where ∏ equals profit, that determines advance ticket purchases.

The economists write: "When we book our flight to London weeks ahead we have to account for the possibility of unforeseen events which make our trip to London impossible. In order to make consumers take their chances, airlines have to offer advance purchase discounts. As a consequence, ticket prices increase as the travel date approaches."

Conversely, fans of long-running West End musicals know they can often pick up cheap tickets if they leave their purchases to the last minute.

The pair note: "The purchase of airline and theatre tickets are both examples where individual demand uncertainty and rationing risks interfere. However, there is empirical evidence which shows that airline ticket prices typically increase over time while theatre tickets are often sold at a discount on the day."

Earlier studies appear to corroborate these claims, although there may be discrepancies between the pricing of long-haul and short-haul flights.

A 2001 study of flight tickets for 12 different US routes showed that postponing a ticket purchase by just one day raised the price by around 0.1% of the average fare. A 2004 study of flights from Nice airport showed that the average price of a flight increases by 12.7% within the last 22 days prior to departure.

In contrast, a 2004 study of 199 Broadway shows found that 197 offered discounts of up to 50% on the day of the performance and that 14% of the audience took advantage of such discounts.

The pair note: "When we purchase our theatre ticket last minute, there exists the possibility that the event has sold out. In order to make consumers bear this risk, theatres implement a clearance sale by offering last minute discounts."

In the abstract accompanying their ongoing work, Möller and Watanabe say: "Differences in the pricing of airline and theatre tickets are explained by the fact that air travel to London is offered by relatively few carriers while long-running West End musicals are unlikely to sell out."


EIGHT-WEEK RULE

Prices for EasyJet flight booked in advance as of 21 August

London Stansted (STN) to Munich (MUC)

1 day = £82.99

1 week = £98.99

2 weeks = £62.99

8 weeks = £19.99

12 weeks = £25.99

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/aug/22/airline-ticket-eight-week-rule