[jimworcs]

Ok, lets clear up some facts.. Ryanair owner Michael O'Leary is a master publicist. He put a story in the press about Ryanair charging passengers to use the toilet. The stupid journalists who ought to know better then printed it, without looking at what is behind it. It was to disguise the fact that Ryanair were now introducing a charge for checking in online, which had previously been free. And here is the trick. When Ryanair originally introduced online check-in, there was a fee for checking in at the airport. If you checked in online, the airline argued they saved money and passed on the savings to the customer. Then, when everyone started checking in online suddenly Ryanair decide to charge for it. To avoid the bad publicity associated with introducing a new fee, O'Leary made a press release about charging for the toilet and then sat back with a smug smile on his face as the brouhaha hides his real motive.. robbing the passengers blind.

Now, onto the child seat issue. My friend PHX is just plain wrong on this one. This rule poses a potential safety risk. If PHX and his squeeze booked a flight and choose not to "buy" the privilege of sitting next to each other, the only consequence is that he pines for the love of his life for an hour or so. If a parent of a three year child doesn't purchase the "right to sit next to each other", the the child can be potentially separated from the parent. This places the child in possible danger..what if the passenger sitting next to him is, for example, a kiddyfiddler? The second danger is if there is an emergency decompression. In such a scenario, the parent must first put there mask on and then see to the child. What if the stranger doesn't? What if the parent, panicked that there child might not be getting helped tries to go to their aide? This could lead to the loss of life. Thirdly, in an emergency evacuation, rapid egress is of the utmost importance. There is typically only minutes to evacuate before passengers die of smoke inhalation. If a parent is doing what comes naturally and frantically looking for their child, they could impede the others leaving in an emergency and endanger others.

Therefore, PHX I respectfully say that it is not a case "special treatment", but rather a case of the airlines going too far with their revenue generators. I have an idea... LETS REGULATE THE AIRLINES!! Why didn't anyone think of that before?