Scott, you say: "I'm fine with adding NEW services and charging for them (like inflight WiFi), but to make people pay the same as they always have AND charge for stuff that used to be free is a slippery slope."

I mostly agree. But the fact that people are paying the same prices as they always have does not mean they aren't paying less than they otherwise would without the a la carte fee. If Ryanair DOES enact "pay-to-pee," this will certainly make its ticket prices lower than they otherwise would be, in the same way that charging $50 for checking a second bag makes ticket prices cheaper than if the second checked bag were "free." Note that this does NOT necessarily make ticket prices cheaper than some previous time-- only cheaper compared to what they would otherwise be.

In the end I think it's nice to see an airline experiment with some different pricing schemes. If people hate Ryanair's idea as much as I think they do, it won't last long. They'll vote with their dollars, err, Euros.

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