Bad news for all the passengers who rush to the lavatories as soon as the “fasten your seat belt” sign is switched off: Ryanair think of charging for using the WCs. The decision is not made yet – and this is certainly more a marketing thing – but given the problems all airlines have to face, it could become true one day… I can not remember the last time I was served decent coffee in a porcelain cup in an economy class section. Even getting decent coffee on board nowadays seems an abstract concept.

I thought of a couple of other things that Ryanair could charge for:

• Toilet paper
• Glasses for drinks
• Safety belt
• Life jackets (surchage if an emergency is declared)
• Stairs for boarding (surcharge for handrail)
• Oxygen masks (surchage in case of “drop in cabin pressure”)
• Safety briefing
• Use of the overhead compartments
• Warm and pressurized air in the cabin
• Seat (surcharge for armrests)
• Window / window blind
• Doors (incl. emergency exits)

(Note to the Ryanair management: if you use some of these ideas, don’t forget my tip.)

But if Ryanair would really like to make a lot of money, and bring some civilization back in airline transport, they could charge the passenger for some respect. I would be the first to pay (and even quite good money) for not being treated like an anonymous biped. Unfortunately this does not seems to be the general tendency, even for classical airlines. May be I should try to fly in business or first class.

PS: I know that the cabin-crew usually do their best, but the schedules don’t leave enough time for them to do their job as they would like…