Ryanair Boss: You Want Service? Try Another Airline

Find tickets, new flights, even lounges

(NEWSER) - Every air traveler armed with a smartphone should load up on these five apps, says the Travel section of USA Today:

• SkyScanner (Free): This app will hunt down the best price for your ticket. It scans not only all of the airlines' websites but all of the online travel agencies (Expedia, Priceline) as well.
• Next Flight ($2.99): Yeah, it's relatively pricey, but worth the cost when needed. If your flight is canceled or delayed, or you just plain miss it, the app provides a list of all available flights from all carriers over the next two days. If none are there, it searches for hotels and car rentals.
• Priority Pass (Free): This app supplies a list of all the lounges at your airport. You can look through photos and amenities before deciding whether to shell out money for a pass.

But don't worry ... you'd watch it on your phone, which is so much more private!

(NEWSER) - "Ryanair" and "conservative" aren't two words you typically see in the same sentence, so the airline's latest harebrained idea shouldn't come as too much of a surprise: in-flight porn. Yep, Ryanair honcho Michael O'Leary would like to bring the steamy pay-per-view hotel room experience to his aircraft. But don't fret, he tells the Sun . "I'm not talking about having it on screens on the back of seats for everyone to see. It would be on handheld devices." Way better, right? He envisions a Ryanair app that fliers could log on to via iPad or smartphone. More»

They're trying to convince Boeing to let them install more seats

(NEWSER) - If you’re flying on Ryanair, remember what dad always said and do your business before takeoff. Europe’s biggest airline, ever on the cutting edge of new ways to squeeze money out of its flights, had been considering charging passengers to use the bathroom on its flights, but now it’s decided to instead just remove two of the three bathrooms on each plane entirely to make room for more seats, the Independent reports More»

They raked in billions more in reservation and change fees

(AP) - You may want to take a deep breath before reading this one: Airlines collected a whopping $3.4 billion in baggage fees last year, up 24% from 2009. Reservation and change fees accounted for an additional $2.3 billion, down 3% from the year prior. The add-ons are one of the few bright spots for an industry that is caught between rising fuel costs and customers who expect rock-bottom airfares. Analysts say without the fees, the industry would be losing money. More»

Robert Sayegh says he may sue

(NEWSER) - Apparently, cursing can get you kicked off a plane—as a Brooklyn man found out the hard way yesterday. After a layover in Detroit, Robert Sayegh and the rest of the passengers on Atlantic Southeast Airlines Flight 5136 had been waiting at the gate for 45 minutes. A flight attendant overheard him commenting to his seatmate, "What's taking so (expletive) long to close the overhead compartments?" The plane taxied to the runway, but then returned so police could escort Sayegh off. More»