Delta Cuts International Flights by 10%

In a memo written by CEO Richard Anderson and president Edward H. Bastian, Delta announced its plan to cut international flights by 10% beginning in September of this year.

According to the memo...

...capacity this winter will be down 11-13% compared to winter 2008. Its trans-Pacific capacity will be down 12-14%. The cuts are in addition to Delta's December announcement to reduce 2009 capacity by 6-8%.

Delta currently has more than 70,000 employees world wide. Roughly 2,100 employees will be leaving the company voluntarily over the next year, but current projections show the company still may fall short of its fiscal goals.

Despite the cutbacks and meager projections, Delta is still taking a more conventional approach than some. Ryanair recently announced it may begin charging customers to use the bathroom.

Feel Free to Laugh at Ryanair's Expense

Ryanair is, by at least any symmetric of rough mathematics, the leader in the clubhouse for "Most Unbelievably Ridiculous Behavior by a Corporation," 2009, medium-business section. That's because they first had their employees pose for a swimsuit calendar, then they attacked bloggers, then they debated charging for customers to use the bathroom and now plan on eliminating check-in counters (although that last one might actually be good.) So, from Gizmodo, we present this cartoon:

Ryanair Charges for Bathrooms, Eliminates Check-In Counters

Ryanair just can't stay out of the news. The discount airline made headlines earlier this week when it publicly lambasted a blogger for pointing out a flaw in their website's design. While they were at it, they decided to lump all bloggers into a collective group, kindly referred to as "lunatics."

More negative publicity followed as the Irish airline announced that it was considering charging passengers to use the bathroom.

Ryanair could begin charging passengers to use the toilet. That's direct from the mouth of Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary, who made the comments this morning to BBC television. "One thing we have looked at in the past and are looking at again is the possibility of maybe putting a coin slot on the toilet door so that people might actually have to spend a pound (about $1.43) to spend a penny in future."

Many industry experts have wondered if the move would backfire for Ryanair. According to British Aviation officials, there is currently no legislation mandating toilets be available on board aircraft, so if the airline does decide to include one, they can rightfully charge for its use.

Ryanair's most recent announcement concerns airport check-in counters. The discount carrier will eliminate all check-in counters by the end of 2009.

The Dublin-based discount carrier plans to get rid of its ticket counters, shifting some of those employees to staff drop-off stations for passengers' checked bags. Ryanair has released few details of exactly how the ticket counter elimination would work, but CEO Michael O'Leary told the Daily Telegraph that the airline ultimately wants only 20% of its passengers to check bags.

It's unclear yet how passengers would respond to the move. Thus far, no airline has ever eliminated 100% of its check-in counters. Although self-service has been a growing trend in many industries, especially air travel, many remain skeptical that Ryanair will be able to make it work.

Despite the numerous headlines and incredulous responses to pay-toilets, blog-hating and mandatory self check-in, no one should really be surprised. Ryanair has a history of taking a different approach than other airlines. For proof of Ryanair's independent-thinking, look no further than their Calendar of Scantily Clad Flight Attendants (hey, at least it was for charity).

Irish Airline Calls Out 'Lunatic Bloggers'

The only difference between "bloggers" and "writers" is  the "medium" with which to "spread this message" "to the masses." (Or something like that.) Bloggers just happen to be able to spread the message more quickly, which is what Jason Roe did when he found out about a glitch in Irish airline Ryanair's system that allowed him to book free tickets. 

As a result of his blog post, some people got upset and posted comments calling him an "idito and a liar..." These comments were traced back to Ryanair's corporate IP address ... and not only is the airline not denying it, they're backing up their employees and dogging Roe in public.

"Ryanair can confirm that a Ryanair staff member did engage in a blog discussion," said the airline's spokesman Stephen McNamara. "It is Ryanair policy not to waste time and energy in corresponding with idiot bloggers and Ryanair can confirm that it won't be happening again. Lunatic bloggers can have the blog sphere all to themselves as our people are far too busy driving down the cost of air travel."

Now, Ryanair as engaged in some bizarre behavior before (like creating a swimsuit calendar featuring their employees) but this is just insane: "lunatic bloggers" aren't out to destroy the world. Roe just happened to see a screw up on the part of the airline and publicly identify it.

That's not some excuse to launch into a publicly displayed form of stereotyping; if anything, it should be an excuse for Ryanair to stop spending money on swimsuit calendars and use the cash to secure their server. 

U.K.'s Ryanair Has an, Um, Interesting Way to Raise Money for Charity Using Its Female Employees

A calendar of attractive ladies -- one for each month, natch -- has long been a staple of many different publications, organizations and athletic teams. It's something that's kind of dismissed in our culture as a standard practice that somehow doesn't cross over to the realm of sexism.

However, you would almost never ask female employees of a service industry business (unless you count Hooters) to take their clothes off and pose for a glossed up monthly google-fest. Fortunately for customers of Ryanair (and charity!), the normal cultural norms don't apply in the U.K.

[...]the low-cost carrier that’s the U.K.’s answer to our JetBlue, who have followed up their successful 2008 calendar showing their better looking employees with a 2009 version. For ten bucks, you get to ogle women from across the European continent monthly while helping out the kids.

At least someone is thinking of the children. Thanks, Ryanair! No, seriously though, I suppose this is okay -- presuming, of course, that the women have all been given the choice of whether to pose or not and that the majority of proceeds really are going to charity then I think I'm cool with it.

We're a touch too family friendly to be bringing you any photos other than the screenshot you see above, but if you want to pre-order the calendar, you can do so here ... and Machochip has photos and videos. Should you, you know, really be into charity. Or sociological discussion on how airlines plan to battle the economy.