Ryanair's business plan to survive the economy

You may remember Irish airline head Michael O'Leary's press conference in Germany when he announced that economy class long haul flights would be available for as little as 10 Euros and that business class would cost around 4000 to 5000 Euros. He even gave Ryanair's business class a unique name - which denigrated his cabin crews and easily entered the realm of misogyny on several different planes. (Yes... that deserves a quarter in the bad pun jar.)

O'Leary said then that in economy class, a passenger would pay for every service while business class patrons would get everything for free.

Apparently the economic crunch has hit Ryanair too. Aside from giving his employees a "reverse bonus" for Christmas he's decided it may be time to cash in on the in-flight loo.

Chief executive Michael O'Leary told the BBC that the Dublin-based carrier was looking at maybe installing a "coin slot on the toilet door".

[...]

"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 to spend a penny in future," he told the BBC.

He added: "I don't think there is anybody in history that has got on board a Ryanair aircraft with less than a pound."

But Rochelle Turner, head of research at Which? Holiday, said: "It seems Ryanair is prepared to plumb any depth to make a fast buck and, once again, is putting profit before the comfort of its customers.

Interesting idea. Of course, since economy passengers are paying for everything, including bottled drinks, it would serve O'Leary good and right if passengers were giving them back at the end of the flight - full.