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The stench! Oh, the stench. You forgot to do the online check-in for your flight and got stuck with one of the prime seats on your flight: right beside the washroom.
You try to get some shut-eye after take-off but you're stirred awake every 10 minutes by someone heading to the toilet. One in three struggles to open the door and lock it behind them.
Is that scene vivid in your mind? The sights, sounds, smells of it all? Now multiply it by three: three times the people, three times the noise, three times the wait, three times the stink.
Ryanair, Europe's biggest airline that gave new meaning to the term "no frills," has announced its latest (sure to be crowd-pleasing) plan to "wage war on dignity and comfort" as BoingBoing contributor Cory Doctorow puts it: they're eliminating two of the three washrooms on board each Boeing 737-800 to make room for new seats.
The company's CEO, Michael O'Leary, told The Independent, "We very rarely use all three toilets on board our aircraft anyway."
Really? One washroom for 200 passengers and crew members? You don't want to be on that plane when you self-diagnose yourself with the stomach flu, food poisoning or travelers' trots (only to emerge from that tiny washroom after your 20-minute visit to face a long queue of disgusted/judgmental passengers).
At first, Ryanair's cost-cutting plans were more subtle: chairs didn't recline, life jackets were stowed over head rather than hidden away underneath seats and the airline charged a fee for checking in your first piece of luggage.
But over the years, Mr. O'Leary has mused about other, far more dramatic measures (few of which have been realized): a standing-room-only section of the plane for deal-seeking customers, charging for sick bags and making passengers carry their own bags onto the tarmac.
This washroom removal business may very well be another marketing ploy by Mr. O'Leary.
But if it's not, would you fly with the discount airline? What are the non-negotiables when it comes to air travel for you?
Dakshana Bascaramurty