What's this? A fee to pee?

NOTE TO SELF: RYANAIR TO CHARGE PASSENGERS TO URINATE(?) WHAT NEXT!

Another of those "what-in-the-hell-are-they-thinking" stories that cause us to shake our heads in wonder and puzzlement.

The head of Ryanair, a budget airline I'm not familiar with, is toying with the idea of charging its passengers to use the bathroom. His rationale or excuse is that doing this will lead to "less passenger inconvenience during flights.

How he arrived at this conclusion is puzzling.

Last month, Michael O'Leary, Chief Executive admitted that the airline is looking into the possibility of installing - wait for it - toilet doors in its planes that can only be opened with the insertion of of a 1 pound coin (1.10 euros, $1.40). Now that some expensive pee break!

His logic is that an on-board change, he believes, means that more passengers would use airport bathrooms, leading to "less passenger inconvenience on board the aircraft."

Oh really? I dunno how he arrived at this conclusion. As anyone over 50 will attest, when you gotta go - you gotta go! Period! In my eyes it's an obvious greedy, money-grab. I mean - like passengers don't pay enough for extras already?

Seems that Ryanair is running an online competition to see what else the carrier can charge for on board.

Extras huh? Next thing you know, there will be a charge for using the soap dispenser in the pay toilet. You know - $1 per squish on the hand and still another fee for each sheet of paper towel used. Maybe they could offer a special discount for slightly used paper towels. Or perhaps a charge for sitting on a toilet seat after a certain length of time? The mind boggles at the possibilities.

"The suggestion I like best so far is a passenger in Sweden who has suggested that we should produce rolls of toilet paper with my picture on it," O'Leary said.

Indeed.

Photo of a Ryanair plane here: http://uk.news.yahoo.com/photos/slideshow/oddlyenough-photos.html?imageUrl=/afp/20090324/r_p_afp_od_other/pod-a-ryanair-passenger-air-6e4457fb4f90