Assorted questions please

[Flapping_Madly]

This is NOT a stealth attack on Ryanair but I am using them as an example.

If an airline like Ryanair does all it can to discourage hold luggage their planes will weigh less at take off. So less fuel burned. Saving. And they will use less fuel carrying their fuel around. Saving. Bigger profits. No savings passed on to SLF of course.

No problem with that provided you accept their prices are not cheap when all the sneaky bits are added on.

Question. Do Ryan air use the space in the hold for freight instead?
More profit. fine. But attention is currently on security and I have read that security checking of freight is very slack--they are concentrating on old lady's shoes and my extremely dangerous belt instead. The Yeman bombs seem to have been found after a tip-off.

If freight is a weak spot I am not reassured to read that around 15 percent of world air freight goes in passenger planes.

I would like to read the views of anyone who would care to put me right (politely please):)

[PAXboy]

As far as I understand it - just regular pax and never worked in the airline biz - FR do not carry freight as it would delay the turnaround.

Yes their prices are sometimes not cheap, sometimes they are. Just like most of the rest. As a carrier, they are super efficient at carrying pax and making profits. They have the advantage of being the 'first mover' in this area in Europe. They were the ones who changed the game and so made more money. They have also remained ahead in their thinking and stayed in front against the competition. They are the market leader. Whether you like their game is another issue and many threads in here are dedicated to that.

Freight was the obvious next stop for terrorists:
Pax hijack and deliberately crash. Worked.
Pax try small devices in the cabin. Failed.
Freight is unprotected. Almost worked, save for a tip off.One of the routes that they have not yet used, but doubtless considered, is the shipping container. The problem is that a ship sinking at sea would not get as many headlines and if the ship was in port - the container might be in the middle of 60 others that then absorb the blast. There will be other routes and, as the IRA famously said, they only have to be lucky once.

[sir fizzy]

Just a question, guys.. if the tip off about freight bombs was the only way of us knowing about them... then surely that's not the only thing we are missing out? a major overhaul of security and a massive 'update' for airlines taking freight me thinks... :}

[PAXboy]

Yes, sir fizzy and here's the main thread http://www.pprune.org/rumours-news/432139-yemeni-aircraft-bomb-plot-foiled.html