A Pound for a Pee? Of course.

Ryanair's plans to ask passengers to pay £1 for using the toilet on board their flights, was another classic example of showmanship and clever marketing by Micheal O'Leary.

His comments, which were made on the BBC1's Breakfast programme, were covered extensively in all the papers and the debate was further fanned by the gasps of outrage from Which and the Air Transport Users Council.

There are two issues here; the first is that despite what many people may say or think about Mr O'Leary, he is a very bright man indeed! Ryanair is now the largest airline in Europe and it's success has been fuelled by Micheal O'Leary's single minded drive and particular business model.

For him the price is king. You will not find too many Ryanair seminars on the value of the brand or brand values. All that matters is price. And THAT is Ryanair's brand.

I'm sure Ryanair have no intention of proceeding with their £1 for a pee policy, but it's a great bit of PR and, in a circular sort of way, actually re-inforces the Ryanair brand which is - no frills and cheap. Queue here..!

The other issue, is strangely, that we should in actual fact not be surprised by any new idea suggested, no matter how crackpot they may seem today..who would have thought, ten years ago, that you could book and print your own boarding passes from your living room, that there would be no check in desks at the airport or that there would be (apparantly) 1 million seats for sale for just £2.00 each?

Maybe paying for a pee will not seem so crazy. After all Ryanair's ancillery sales accounted for 22% of its last quarter total sales!