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So what if Ryanair were thinking about charging customers to use their toilets?

As usual, outraged of Tunbridge Wells has said his piece, but the indignation goes on long after Ryanair tell everyone that it was just another, err, Weeze. This whole issue was raised by Flybe back in September 2006, but no-one took any notice then, because they just don’t attract the column inches like Ryanair do.

Some commentators have even suggested that Ryanair’s CEO Michael O’Leary was ‘doing a Ratner’, but  nothing could be further from the truth. Ratner joined, and then subsequently trashed, the family business. O’Leary on the other hand was head hunted by the Ryan family to rescue their airline, which was, at the time, if you will excuse the pun, going down the toilet.

O’Leary is an accountant by trade, but he has the gift of the gab, and he knows how to use it. Ryanair’s entire marketing strategy is built on getting repeated press coverage for stirring up controversy. Now the bit about ‘Michael makes it up as he goes along’ - that I don’t believe for a minute. Every comment is timed to make the best use of the opportunities which are there, as and when they arise, but just like programmes like Have I Got News For You, he will tread close to the edge, but he will never cross it. Like him or hate him, O’Leary is by far the most astute CEO in the travel business today.

But why would charging customers to use toilets be a cynical dis-regard for them? After all, where does the phrase ‘to spend a penny’ come from? It is a service which has a cost to the airline, and which gives customers benefit.

For the majority of passengers, it is not an essential requirement to use a toilet during the flight, although I’m sure we’re all glad that the toilets are there. Having said that, there are island hopping aircraft that don’t have them, and there are plenty of flights whose duration is less than the time taken to cross London on the Central Line. Note that the tube has no toilets on the trains, and if you really need to go, many of the stations don’t have them either. If you do need to use the toilet at a mainline station, you will have to pay a charge, but few people make a fuss about that.

Fortunately, commercial logic will always win the day, and the desire of people to empty themselves so they can fill themselves back up again should always ensure that toilets remain free for the forseeable future at any location where the toilet is under the same control as the company serving up the food and drink. So next time you’re at Euston and don’t want to ’spend a penny’ (think it is 30p nowadays?), pop upstairs to the boozer, and use theirs.

With regards to all these other hidden extras, they might be a nuisance, but do the maths. I think the way they are charging for card usage is pretty cheeky, but if it really annoys you, get an Electron card.