Ryanair - Loo Charge Confirmed.

It started out as a joke, a bit of gossip. But now it appears that the rumour about Ryanair charging passengers to use a toilet are true. Low cost airlines are notorious for their add-ons; food and checked-in baggage cost extra on many flights.

Now no-frills airlines overseas are going even further. Ireland's Ryanair has confirmed it plans to charge customers to use the toilets and an American low-cost carrier wants to charge people to use overhead lockers if their bags do not fit under the seats in front of them.

It may seem outrageous to some but analysts say there is a good reason airlines might start to charge for using overhead lockers or toilets.

Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation chairman Peter Harbison says wafer thin margins are behind the moves.

"First of all they can get an extra half-a-dozen seats in, which is more than the profit usually for a whole aircraft operation," he said.

"It saves them a lot of money in servicing two additional toilets. All those sorts of issues, they all add up quite considerably."

Mr Harbison says it is quite possible that other carriers will also consider following suit at some point in the future.

"I've got no doubt that every airline is looking at how much space the toilets take up, and not just low cost carriers but all carriers," he said.