Peeing on the Electric Fence

The AP reports: Ryanair could make passengers pay for toilets.

Is a toilet an optional extra when you're at 30,000 feet? Ryanair boss Michael O'Leary seems to think so — as his no-frills carrier plumbs new depths by thinking of charging customers to use the aircraft loo.

As always, O'Leary suggested a separate toilet free would lower ticket costs and make flying, somehow, easier for all. Nobody, even his own aides, seemed to be sure if he was serious or pursuing his well-documented penchant for making brazen declarations to win free advertising.

"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 have to actually spend a pound to `spend a penny' in future," O'Leary said, using a local euphemism for relieving one's self.

Do you need a Harvard MBA to realize that this is a terrible idea? How much additional money will you make compared to pissing people off (pardon the pun!)?

And just compare it to the damage that these irate passengers are likely to wreak, and this is Bastiat all over again. Ignore the unseen consequences in favor of the seen ones.

The first person who pees on the floor is likely to cause more damage both directly and indirectly (bad publicity) than all the revenue that you are likely to make from this move.

Dumb, dumb, dumb.