Yes, that's right, he ate the winning ticket

A passenger flying on a Ryanair flight Thursday from Krakow, Poland, to the U.K.'s East Midlands airport ate a winning lottery ticket worth 10,000 euros ($15,000) when he was told he could not claim the prize mid-flight.

The cabin crew advised the winner that he would have to redeem the winning ticket directly with the company that runs the lottery, as it was such a large sum.

The passenger proceeded to become so irate that he ate the winning ticket.

The unusual in-flight meal turned out to be very expensive, as the consumption of the lottery ticket invalidated his claim.

The airline was asking visitors to its website to decide which charity should get the €10,000 prize.

"Passengers have always been delighted to claim their large cash prizes after returning home," Ryanair spokesman Stephen McNamara said.

"Unfortunately our latest winner felt that we should have his €10,000 prize kicking around on the aircraft."

Ryanair and Brand Force, the scratch card company, have decided to offer the cash prize to charity and have asked Ryanair passengers to vote on the Ryanair Web site (www.ryanair.com) for which type of charity Ryanair should donate the €10,000 prize to.  The online poll closes March 5.

The possible choices for the charity are:

1. An Anger Management Charity
2. An Eating Disorder Charity
3. A Gamblers Charity
4. A Disruptive Children's Charity
5. A Mental Health Charity

"Crew tried to stop the air Gourmet Scratch Card eater by offering him one of our great tasting sandwiches, pizzas or snacks instead, but clearly he had much more expensive tastes," McNamara quipped.

"Ryanair is now asking passengers to vote on which type of charity Ryanair should donate the €10,000 prize money to with one charity from anger management, eating and digestive disorders to disruptive children's and mental health charities now set to benefit from a real meal ticket."