Latest news with #budgetAirlines
Irish Times
29-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Times
I'm the most efficient person to ever go through airport security. Here's why
I'm due to take my first flight of the summer in a couple of weeks and, as an anxious person, my needless fretting has already begun. With a bit of time before me and the travel event, baggage is currently taking the lead on the worry-o-meter. We're doing a music festival in Barcelona for three nights on one small bag (40x20x25) each. Usually, I'm good for it. I've done two weeks in Portugal with a 10kg carry on. I've done four days in Paris on the one small bag. I have the tiny toiletries down pat. I'm very partial to a mini. If social media is to be believed, the budget airlines are cracking down. They're seeing your assumption that your backpack is about 40x20x25 and they're raising you the little sizer of doom. I've seen several videos of passengers pushing their bags into the example cage only to be notified that there are two centimetres peeping over the top of the sizer. The cries of 'but I've brought this holdall to Fuerteventura three times with no issues' fall on deaf ears, and fines are doled out. Up to €75 in some instances. These flights to Barcelona were already eye-wateringly expensive, so the thought of a backpack bulge adding another potential €150 to the cost is almost as distressing as the idea of not being the Best Girl at the Airport. Yes, it's true. I am the undisputed champion of Best Girl at the Airport. My special skill is 'most efficient person to ever go through security', which is tricky given that the goalposts are always moving. One trip it's 'take your Kindle out of your bag you knuckle-dragging wally. Do you want to bring down an entire Boeing 737 with your Hunger Games trilogy?' But then the next time, you could get hissed and spat at for daring to have the Kindle out and ready to be placed in a tray. Same for little sandwich bags of liquids. They usually have to be out on full display – extra-strength deodorant, piles cream, KY Jelly. You name it, it's sailing along the belt. There is the odd special occasion when the liquids and gels should stay in the bag. You'd never catch me banking on that though. READ MORE Something I know for certain at airport security is that the belts must come off. Obviously, I never wear one. I'd lose Best Girl points immediately. One of the cruellest aspects of the security queue is being made to stand and watch while others learn of the belt-off rule and behave as if they've just hatched fresh from an egg. 'I must remove my belt? And this coat and scarf? And I can't bring this 400ml bottle of Herbal Essences?' Best Girls manage to keep their simmering rage under control, but these displays of ineptitude only serve to strengthen their resolve even further. 'I lost many Best Girl points on a recent trip to Zurich by forgetting to drain my water bottle before hitting security. A rookie mistake' Once I'm at the top of that queue, I'm laser focused. I've fired my bag into a tray before the security staff have even bellowed at me to come forward. BLAM! My liquids are down. WHAM! There's my Kindle, just in case. THWACK! There's my phone. As if I'd leave it in my pocket like some amateur. I brush off any suggestion that I might be wearing a belt or carrying keys. I already know my shoes are below ankle height because I planned it that way. The Americans will make you take them off anyway, so I'll often employ a different footwear strategy if heading stateside. I learned long ago that underwired bras may set off the scanners, and are instruments of torture anyway, so it's non-wired all the way. Sometimes you get pulled for a random drug swab, and listen, we all become convinced that we unwittingly swallowed seven condoms of cocaine for breakfast when that happens. Mostly though, I sail through, and am free to wait in the Recombobulation Area, where we all anxiously watch and wait to see whether our bag will be chosen for a humiliating search. I lost many Best Girl points on a recent trip to Zurich by forgetting to drain my water bottle before hitting security. A rookie mistake. Luckily the latex-gloved overlord didn't rifle through my backpack and see I'd brought eight pairs of knickers for a two-night stay. [ Emer McLysaght: To the person in front of me at airport security . . . Opens in new window ] Obviously, I recombobulate quickly, and aggressively return my tray and the trays of the uncouth oafs who left theirs strewn around before immediately heading off to confirm my boarding gate exists, safe in the knowledge that my Best Girl crown is intact. Until, that is, they bring out the bag-sizer of doom.
Daily Mail
24-05-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
'Fart zone' fears as air passengers weigh in on latest seating concepts
From bicycle-style standing seats to double-decker recliners, airplane seating concepts have been intriguing and mortifying passengers in equal measure recently. In February European manufacturer Airbus revealed it was working with a Spanish start-up, Chaise Longue, on a two-level seating system. But the idea of some passengers staring at the lower backside of fliers on raised platforms sparked controversy online, with one social media user writing: 'Last thing I want when flying is being stuck in someone's fart zone.' It comes after news this week that several budget airlines are set to introduce standing-only seat options. The bike-style padded seats allow passengers to lean at an angle without completely sitting down – and could be introduced as early as 2026. However, it's the double-decker idea - which features one row of seats on a raised platform, followed by one row at a normal level, and so on - that has caused unease among the flying public. For passengers up top, worrying about the etiquette of reclining will be a thing of the past, with no one directly behind to complain about it. Meanwhile, bottom passengers would be able to stretch their legs more and even put their legs up slightly, thanks to added space under the chair in front. The dual level concept is courtesy of Alejandro Nunez Vicente, CEO and founder of Chaise Longue, who said his firm is exploring 'early stage concepts' with Airbus. 'After 4 exciting years pursuing my dream of improving the passenger experience and giving passengers what they truly deserve, today I am very excited to make [this] announcement,' Vicente said in a LinkedIn post. 'It's the dawn of a new era for commercial aviation, so I hope that you are as excited as we are with this announcement and that soon, you can be crossing the skies in a more comfortable, spacious and two-level seat.' However, the initial images have raised fears about people passing gas in the cabin. One person on X said: 'The nice thing about this arrangement, is that farts from the higher seats in front of you will hit you right in the mouth so you don't have to wonder where they came from.' In response, Vicente said: 'With some common sense and maturity you should be able to find your answer.' He added: 'Gas in general doesn't go through solid objects like seat cushions, seat covers and plastic shells.' It's unclear when the two parties are aiming to roll the design out to aircraft; has contacted them for more information. Vicente, who studied industrial engineering at Brunel University of London, started building his first plane seat prototype by hand in 2021 using just a 'bunch of planks.' Chaise Longue has provided a digital model online of the layout, which lets web users control a Sim-like figure in a mock-up of an aircraft cabin. According to the concept – which has also piqued the interest of Emirates – passengers would decide whether they were booking top seats or bottom seats. From the promo images, it seems passengers in the bottom seats would have ample legroom – but less space behind them to recline. Conversely, the top passengers would have lots of room to stretch back but not quite as much legroom. However, considering the bottom passenger would have their head directly behind a fellow flier's backside, the top seats may prove more popular. What's more, bottom passengers would have the back of someone's chair looming high over them, which could either increase the sense of privacy, or claustrophobia. Everyone would have space under their own seat to put their baggage – but the bottom row passengers would get a little extra space in front of them too. Another said 'soon they will be packing us in with the luggage', adding: 'I will NOT fly in a double decker seating arrangement' Yet another said: 'The day this seating arrangement goes into planes is the day I start travelling only as far as I can drive' Notably, the design gets rid of the overhead luggage compartments in order to utilize the plane cabin's height as much as possible. Vicente told CNN he's not on a mission to eradicate normal airplane seating. Instead, he envisages a cabin where his concept is in the middle, flanked by two rows of traditional airplane seating, but he admitted 'there is still a long development ahead'. He also said he's thankful Airbus sees 'the true potential of two-level seating', while adding he's 'open for collaboration' with other aviation companies. Airbus confirmed the collaboration but offered scant further details about the project. An Airbus spokesperson said: 'Chaise Longue is exploring some early stage concepts with Airbus on two-level seating solutions for Airbus commercial aircraft.' 'Given the nature of this early phase level,' the spokesperson added, Airbus preferred 'not to further comment at this stage'.
