Ryanair's move to explore the option of using passengers as baggage handlers comes as it posted its first loss since it floated 12 years ago.
Its 2008 figures have been hit by an aborted attempt to acquire Aer Lingus and rising fuel prices in the first half of the year.
However if Ryanair does go ahead with the plan it is unknown how much it would reduce its current baggage handling fee of £10. According to the Daily Telegraph, the company said the fee would remain.
The Telegraph quoted a Stanstead Airport spokesman who questioned the possibility of such a move given security and practical considerations.
While the idea is far-fetched, so was Ryanair's proposal to charge passengers to use on-board toilets but chief executive Michael O'Leary went over the idea again yesterday.
Bizarrely O'Leary actually claimed that as well as adding more seating capacity to planes by allowing it to remove toilets it would be a winner with customers.
He said: "It's not because we need to generate money from the jacks. But if you get rid of one toilet you can get six seats on a 737. They will all be scurrying to the toilet before the departure gate.
"One thing that pisses passengers off the most, if you'll pardon the pun, is passengers clambering over them to get to the toilet.
O'Leary has also claimed: "If someone wanted to pay £5 to go to the toilet I would carry them myself. I would wipe their bums for a fiver."
One person who may take O'Leary up on his kind offer is Queen Sofia of Spain. The 70-year-old wife of King Juan Carlos recently flew with Ryanair from northern Spain to Stansted.
It is common practice for Spain's royal family to use scheduled flights.