Ryanair Scrapes the Barrel for Ancillary Revenue Ideas

Fat tax and O’Leary toilet paper could become a reality.

Budget airline Ryanair has sunk to new lows by asking passengers to send in their suggestions for new discretionary charges the airline can add to its service.

After the controversy that was caused when chief executive Michael O’Leary announced Ryanair was going to “spend a pound to spend a penny,” the company has decided to turn the decision over to the publilc to see which method of discretionary revenue would be the best.

Following on from the toilet theme, one member of the public suggested charging ?1 for toilet paper with Mr O’Leary’s face on it. “Over 12,000 ideas were suggested to us as ways of driving our guaranteed lowest fares even lower,” commented Ryanair’s Stephen McNamara.

The top five entries

1. ?1 for Michael O’Leary toilet paper

2. ?2 fee for passengers who bring food on board

3. ?5 annual subscription fee for Ryanair’s website

4. ?3 to visit a designated smoking zone

5. Fat tax, for overweight passengers based on BMI.

Ryanair is encouraging people to vote on their preferred entry. There is as yet, no news whether Ryanair will actually implement the winning entry, but the airline will reward the best suggestion with ?1,000 prize.

Despite the ludicrous nature of the discretionary charges, Ryanair is desperate for innovative ways to bring in revenue without increasing its ticket prices for cheap flights which are the mainstay of the airline.

One of the discretionary charges not likely to feature in Ryanair’s future business plans was the “beds and blowjobs” suggestion, despite Mr O’Leary’s announcement in Dusseldorf last year.