Ryanair Passengers May Stand for Cheapest Tix

(NEWSER) - The budget-airline boss who's thinking about charging passengers to use the bathrooms on his planes wants you to know that he doesn't feel a bit bad about it. If you expect to be coddled, Michael O'Leary tells the New York Times, Ryanair's not for you. O'Leary—famed for his rudeness and his readiness to tack on every possible extra charge to keep ticket prices low—is just about the only airline CEO who has anything to boast about these days: Ryanair expects passenger numbers to jump from 58 million to 68 million this year while rival airlines flounder. More»

Instead, extra flight attendants!

(NEWSER) - Co-pilots? We don't need no stinking co-pilots. And it would certainly be cheaper to fly without them, so that's what Ryanair CEO (and infamous cost-cutter) Michael O'Leary intends to do—or at least try to do. O'Leary, whose company has already rolled out the genius ideas of charging passengers to pee and offering standing-room-only tickets , tells the Financial Times he's asking aviation authorities for permission to operate short flights with only one pilot aboard, and replace the second-in-command with ... flight attendants. More»

Regulations can go jump in a volcano, says chief

(NEWSER) - The budget airline boss who first floated the idea of charging passengers for using airplane toilets is balking at paying the food and hotel bills of fliers stranded by volcanic ash. Ryanair chief Michael O'Leary says that he doesn't care if European laws require him to foot the bill for stranded passengers. He says they'll be getting their plane fares refunded and not a penny more, the Guardian reports. More»

No printed-up boarding card? Pony up. Oh, and it's $7.50 to check in

(NEWSER) - Perhaps inspired by airlines banking hundreds of millions of dollars in bag fees last year, discount European carrier Ryanair is introducing new baggage check fees, BlackBook reports. Ryanair customers will have to pony up a $7.50 fee to check in online, and pay a further $60—termed a “boarding card re-issue fee”—if they forget to bring in a printed-up boarding pass. More»

But don't worry ... you'd watch it on your phone, which is so much more private!

(NEWSER) - "Ryanair" and "conservative" aren't two words you typically see in the same sentence, so the airline's latest harebrained idea shouldn't come as too much of a surprise: in-flight porn. Yep, Ryanair honcho Michael O'Leary would like to bring the steamy pay-per-view hotel room experience to his aircraft. But don't fret, he tells the Sun . "I'm not talking about having it on screens on the back of seats for everyone to see. It would be on handheld devices." Way better, right? He envisions a Ryanair app that fliers could log on to via iPad or smartphone. More»