Airplane Seatbelts Are "Useless" Says Airline Boss

The outspoken boss of a European budget airline sometimes used by the Royals when they are traveling privately and keen to keep costs to a minimum has said what many air travelers have long suspected: that seatbelts on airplanes are useless and ‘won’t save you’ in the event of a crash.

Michael O’Leary, boss of Ryanair, made the comments as part of his campaign to be allowed to fly super-budget planes with standing room only, currently prohibited as passengers must be belted in for take-off.

Planes, he said in comments reported by the Daily Telegraph, are just ‘bloody buses with wings’, adding, “If there ever was a crash on an aircraft, God forbid, a seatbelt won't save you. You don’t need a seatbelt on the London Underground. You don’t need a seatbelt on trains which are traveling at 120mph, If they crash you’re all dead.”

Air travel is not a “wondrous sexual experience” and planes are just “bloody buses with wings”, he added.

O’Leary claimed standing passengers could simply hang on to a strap from the ceiling if the plane was hit by turbulence.

He said Ryanair would be prepared to offer tickets for as little as £1 to passengers on short haul flights standing in the rear of the cabins, where ten rows of seats could be removed.

We doubt the thrifty royals will go that far though somehow.

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Tom SykesEuropean Editor at Large

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