NOTE TO SELF: RYANAIR TO CHARGE PASSENGERS TO URINATE(?) WHAT NEXT!
Another of those "what-in-the-hell-are-they-thinking" stories that cause us to shake our heads in wonder and puzzlement.
The head of Ryanair, a budget airline I'm not familiar with, is toying with the idea of charging its passengers to use the bathroom. His rationale or excuse is that doing this will lead to "less passenger inconvenience during flights.
How he arrived at this conclusion is puzzling.
Last month, Michael O'Leary, Chief Executive admitted that the airline is looking into the possibility of installing - wait for it - toilet doors in its planes that can only be opened with the insertion of of a 1 pound coin (1.10 euros, $1.40). Now that some expensive pee break!
His logic is that an on-board change, he believes, means that more passengers would use airport bathrooms, leading to "less passenger inconvenience on board the aircraft."
Oh really? I dunno how he arrived at this conclusion. As anyone over 50 will attest, when you gotta go - you gotta go! Period! In my eyes it's an obvious greedy, money-grab. I mean - like passengers don't pay enough for extras already?
Seems that Ryanair is running an online competition to see what else the carrier can charge for on board.
Extras huh? Next thing you know, there will be a charge for using the soap dispenser in the pay toilet. You know - $1 per squish on the hand and still another fee for each sheet of paper towel used. Maybe they could offer a special discount for slightly used paper towels. Or perhaps a charge for sitting on a toilet seat after a certain length of time? The mind boggles at the possibilities.
"The suggestion I like best so far is a passenger in Sweden who has suggested that we should produce rolls of toilet paper with my picture on it," O'Leary said.
Indeed.
Photo of a Ryanair plane here: http://uk.news.yahoo.com/photos/slideshow/oddlyenough-photos.html?imageUrl=/afp/20090324/r_p_afp_od_other/pod-a-ryanair-passenger-air-6e4457fb4f90
Showing posts with label travel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label travel. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Wednesday, September 5, 2007
DEAD BUT NOT BURIED
NOTE TO SELF: BODIES AND LOVE ONE'S WAITING TO BE BURIED
Grave diggers and maintenance staff have been locked out of the Notre Dame des Neiges Cementary located in Montreal, Canada since May 16 and the bodies are piling up. A labor dispute has paralyzed Canada's largest cemetary but there could - key word here could - be a break through if you parden the pun. The feeling of personal loss however, can't be measured in numbers.
The one-hundred and twenty nine unionized workers at the burial ground announced that they are prepared to return to work 4 days per week, starting next Monday. Management for their part are considering the proposal. Workers are members of the Syndicat des travailleurs et des travailleuses du cimetière Notre Dame des Neiges, a local of the Confédération des syndicats nationaux and have been without a contract since Dec. 31, 2003.
Contract negociations will continue even while the dead are being buried. The statistics are shocking with 498 bodies stored in refrigeration units since the Fabrique de la Paroisse Notre Dame de Montréal, the corporation managing the cemetery for the owners, Sulpician priests, locked out the workers. More alarming is the closing date for the season being November 1
and some families of the dead fear the sheer logistics of burying or cremating so many bodies before then will be a nightmare.
In addition to the remains in storage, the cemetery receives about 50 to 60 bodies a week.
According to one veteran cemetery employee, those returning to work will be hard-pressed to bury 20 bodies a day. There are only four backhoes on the site, and once they start digging, no two graves are the same.
The cemetery's executive director said that there is a plan of operation, a system and it will be adapted to the needs of the individual families.
If families want a graveside interment service conducted according to the rites of the Roman Catholic Church, in what is a predominately Roman Catholic cemetery, the situation becomes even more complicated. In many instances, it means reuniting families who may have come some distance for the funeral, and now again have to co-ordinate travel plans if they wish to be present for the burial.
http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/story.html?id=afa7fe20-309a-47de-94f4-255aad97f8f6&k=85666
Grave diggers and maintenance staff have been locked out of the Notre Dame des Neiges Cementary located in Montreal, Canada since May 16 and the bodies are piling up. A labor dispute has paralyzed Canada's largest cemetary but there could - key word here could - be a break through if you parden the pun. The feeling of personal loss however, can't be measured in numbers.
The one-hundred and twenty nine unionized workers at the burial ground announced that they are prepared to return to work 4 days per week, starting next Monday. Management for their part are considering the proposal. Workers are members of the Syndicat des travailleurs et des travailleuses du cimetière Notre Dame des Neiges, a local of the Confédération des syndicats nationaux and have been without a contract since Dec. 31, 2003.
Contract negociations will continue even while the dead are being buried. The statistics are shocking with 498 bodies stored in refrigeration units since the Fabrique de la Paroisse Notre Dame de Montréal, the corporation managing the cemetery for the owners, Sulpician priests, locked out the workers. More alarming is the closing date for the season being November 1
and some families of the dead fear the sheer logistics of burying or cremating so many bodies before then will be a nightmare.
In addition to the remains in storage, the cemetery receives about 50 to 60 bodies a week.
According to one veteran cemetery employee, those returning to work will be hard-pressed to bury 20 bodies a day. There are only four backhoes on the site, and once they start digging, no two graves are the same.
The cemetery's executive director said that there is a plan of operation, a system and it will be adapted to the needs of the individual families.
If families want a graveside interment service conducted according to the rites of the Roman Catholic Church, in what is a predominately Roman Catholic cemetery, the situation becomes even more complicated. In many instances, it means reuniting families who may have come some distance for the funeral, and now again have to co-ordinate travel plans if they wish to be present for the burial.
http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/story.html?id=afa7fe20-309a-47de-94f4-255aad97f8f6&k=85666
Thursday, July 19, 2007
A LITTLE RAIN MUST FALL...BUT NOT DURING THE CHINA OLYMPICS PLEASE!
NOTE TO SELF: One for the 'uh-oh' file
Now comes news that preparations are being made for the advent of bad weather during their Olympics to be held in China in 2008. In doing this Beijing weather people are proceeding with plans to fire rockets to disperse rain clouds in an attempt to get more sunshine. Predicting the weather as many weather forecasters will agree is not an exacting science to say the least.
Anybody see anything wrong with this idea?
According to Zheng Guoguang, head of China's Meterorological Administration, practice drills are ready. The drills are supposed to simulate what will happen when the Olympics begin on August 8, 2008 and this is the last opportunity for meteorologists to practice working out the kinks. When you think about it - it's not such a big deal if attendees get a little wet while watching athletes do their thing. It's all part of the experience... a little rain must fall and all that.
Course some people take the rain a little more seriously.
Chinese officials report that historical records indicate a 50% chance of rain for the opening ceremony and the same for the closing ceremony. Then there's the usual just-in-case-it-doesn't-work statement where the weather officials admitted that seeding cloud to produce rain and then shoo away rainmaking clouds is - um - immature technology.
We get the point, peeplz. Maybe it'll work...and then again, maybe it won't.
"Dispersal is more difficult than rainfall enhancement," Wang Yubin, assistant chief engineer with the Beijing Meteorological Bureau commented. "In rainfall dispersal, we are still in the experimental stage but we are continuing our efforts."
So people planning to travel to the China Olympics should bring along a raincoat and/or umbrella - just in case of course.
Now comes news that preparations are being made for the advent of bad weather during their Olympics to be held in China in 2008. In doing this Beijing weather people are proceeding with plans to fire rockets to disperse rain clouds in an attempt to get more sunshine. Predicting the weather as many weather forecasters will agree is not an exacting science to say the least.
Anybody see anything wrong with this idea?
According to Zheng Guoguang, head of China's Meterorological Administration, practice drills are ready. The drills are supposed to simulate what will happen when the Olympics begin on August 8, 2008 and this is the last opportunity for meteorologists to practice working out the kinks. When you think about it - it's not such a big deal if attendees get a little wet while watching athletes do their thing. It's all part of the experience... a little rain must fall and all that.
Course some people take the rain a little more seriously.
Chinese officials report that historical records indicate a 50% chance of rain for the opening ceremony and the same for the closing ceremony. Then there's the usual just-in-case-it-doesn't-work statement where the weather officials admitted that seeding cloud to produce rain and then shoo away rainmaking clouds is - um - immature technology.
We get the point, peeplz. Maybe it'll work...and then again, maybe it won't.
"Dispersal is more difficult than rainfall enhancement," Wang Yubin, assistant chief engineer with the Beijing Meteorological Bureau commented. "In rainfall dispersal, we are still in the experimental stage but we are continuing our efforts."
So people planning to travel to the China Olympics should bring along a raincoat and/or umbrella - just in case of course.
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