Excuse me, flight attendant? May I go potty?
Ryanair, a budget airline based in Ireland, will soon require its passengers to ask for permission to use the planes’ restrooms as part of the carrier’s new coronavirus response measures.
The airline announced the new requirement in a press release outlining the company’s plans to resume 40 percent of its service on July 1. In addition to the new restroom policy, Ryanair encouraged passengers to practice social distancing, bring fewer checked bags, check in online rather than in person, use e-tickets rather than paper tickets, and not use cash for in-flight purchases.
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Ryanair passengers will also be required to undergo a temperature screening prior to boarding, and wear face masks throughout the flight.
“Queuing for toilets will also be prohibited on board although toilet access will be made available to individual passengers upon request,” Ryanair adds.
The airline also released a video detailing most of these measures, as well as Ryanair’s new cleaning and disinfection standards.
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“It is important for our customers and our people that we return to some normal schedules from 1 July onwards,” wrote Ryanair CEO Eddie Wilson in a statement included with a media release. “Governments around Europe have implemented a 4-month lockdown to limit the spread of the Covid-19 virus. After 4 months, it is time to get Europe flying again so we can reunite friends and families, allow people to return to work, and restart Europe’s tourism industry, which provides so many millions of jobs.”
Since March, Ryanair has grounded nearly 99 percent of all flights, operating a “skeleton daily schedule of 30 flights,” the airline said. As of July 1, the airline will resume a reported 90 percent of its “pre-COVID-19 routes” at most of its 80 destinations in Europe.