A Ryanair passenger asked the airline to add a common feature to their plane seats — something most other aircraft have — only to receive a short and sharp response back
While Ryanair is well-known for its budget-friendly fares, seasoned and first-time passengers alike will be well aware that this comes at a price. The airline has repeatedly made clear that it is able to offer some of the most competitive flight prices across Europe by cutting costs on non-essential luxuries.
This translates to reduced legroom in order to accommodate more passengers on each flight, no Wi-Fi connectivity, and no charging points for travellers’ devices. However, many passengers are prepared to forgo these common comforts in exchange for lower fares.
One traveller, Maxine McCourt, called on the airline to install pockets on the backs of seats – a feature found on most other aircraft – to give passengers somewhere to keep smaller belongings during their journey.
“@Ryanair would it really have broke the bank to put a wee net here?” Maxine wrote in the overlay text of her TikTok video, as she gestured to the seat in front of her on the flight while holding her earphones case in her hand.
The majority of airlines feature mesh or fabric pockets on the reverse of their seats, typically housing the safety information card, and which passengers can use to stow items such as headphones, snacks, or reading material.
Rather than rummaging through a bag while cramped in a narrow seat, passengers can simply remove their belongings prior to take-off and have them readily accessible throughout the flight.
However, Ryanair evidently saw no need to incorporate this additional feature into its aircraft. Instead, the carrier delivered a three-word response to Maxine through its own video.
After re-posting Maxine’s video, an image of a Ryanair aircraft appeared, complete with a face superimposed on it, as the airline proceeded to share its blunt reply.
“You have hands, use them. If you don’t like it, buy your own plane,” it stated in the video, underlining in the post’s caption: “Use your hands.”
Viewers quickly flooded the comments section to express their opinions, with some supporting Ryanair’s choice not to install the pockets in their seats.
“They removed them pockets, because people are dirty, and this decision saves time on cleaning,” one person remarked.
Another concurred, writing: “Ryanair got a point here. It’s not just the cost of the net, but the fuel to transport it across a continent 1,000 times.”
A third commenter noted: “Makes sense as whenever you fly on a plane with a net behind the seats everyone just leaves rubbish in them, means you don’t waste time cleaning.”
Another observer added: “I agree with Ryanair whole agenda, their whole market is not ‘we are the best’, it’s ‘we are the most affordable’, this is exactly how lower prices and fight the big names, they have to get profit from the flights, so they have to remove anything unnecessary so they can maintain low prices, I am all for that.”
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