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Ryanair’s CEO has mentioned standing-only tickets before, though that was probably a publicity stunt. Now Spring Airlines–a low-cost carrier hubbed in Shanghai with service throughout China and East Asia–has requested regulatory approval for standing sections in its cabins.
That’s a real first step toward a far-less glamorous future for air transportation.
Up to this point, making the customer experience worse while making the base fare lower has been a good strategy.
- Spirit is down to 28″ of pitch (the space between seats) on its planes, which is 3-4″ less than legacy carriers. That 3-4″ difference is enormous at my height and I’m sure very noticeable for people of almost all heights. And yet Spirit is expanding its route network rapidly and has doubled its passenger emplanements in the last four years.
- Frontier charges $2 for soda or water. Frontier hasn’t been doing as well, but I expect that its fortunes will turn around as it transitions to an ultra-low-cost-carrier model since being purchased by a private equity firm.
- Everyone except Southwest has eliminated free checked bags and more airlines are even charging for carry on bags. I haven’t seen any backlash.
So will be people stand for having to stand?
This article claims that standing will allow for 40% more passengers compared to sitting. If the number of passengers in economy rose by 40%, the airline could charge each one 29% less and have the same revenue. Of course, more passengers would mean more weight and more employees needed to service the extra passengers, so in reality, I think we’d see cuts of less than 29% in airfares.
Would I stand to save 29% on my flight? For a cross-country roundtrip that costs $400, that would be about $100 off. I’d much rather have a seat for 10 hours than stand and save $100.
But how about a $150 one-hour flight? I’d probably take $40 to stand for an hour.
I can’t see any future in which all seats are removed from an airplane, so even if standing flights become a possibility, I imagine you’ll always have the choice of paying a bit more to sit. For this reason, I hope standing flights become a reality. More options should make us better off.
What Would Standing Look Like?
By the way, according to this Telegraph article, “standing” is a bit of a misnomer. Both designs look a lot more like stools than actually standing.
Bottom Line
A Chinese airline actually wants regulators to approve standing sections on the cabin. I hope regulators do approve, and we get to see what standing flights look like in practice.
How much would you have to save to stand on a flight?
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I would pay nothing. Terrible idea!!!
You know what’s going to happen right? Sure the standing seats will be cheaper but then a normal seat with standard pitch is going to be “premium” so that you’ll have to pay more for the same crap.
I would pay nothing. Terrible idea!!!
You know what’s going to happen right? Sure the standing seats will be cheaper but then a normal seat with standard pitch is going to be “premium” so that you’ll have to pay more for the same crap.
Hilarious! My favorite fake radio show, This Is That, did a joke segment on a standing-room only airline a few years ago called Can-Jet. Happy to see it might come true. http://www.cbc.ca/player/AudioMobile/This+is+That/ID/2245848710/
Hilarious! My favorite fake radio show, This Is That, did a joke segment on a standing-room only airline a few years ago called Can-Jet. Happy to see it might come true. http://www.cbc.ca/player/AudioMobile/This+is+That/ID/2245848710/
There is no amount of savings that would induce me to fly standing up. The smallest amount of turbulence could cause big injuries. It’s unsafe, and I hope regulators deny permission.
You’ll be connected to something. If standing were so dangerous, we wouldn’t be able to do it at all, and we are for most of the flight, so I don’t think it is dangerous.
There is no amount of savings that would induce me to fly standing up. The smallest amount of turbulence could cause big injuries. It’s unsafe, and I hope regulators deny permission.
You’ll be connected to something. If standing were so dangerous, we wouldn’t be able to do it at all, and we are for most of the flight, so I don’t think it is dangerous.
I’m trying to think what the actual sitting experience would be like. The designs for both types of seats in the images above seem to look uncomfortable. It looks like you probably wouldn’t have a tray table, so forget working on a laptop or even balancing a tablet. So you’d either have to stare at the back of someone’s head for an hour (or more) or at the back of their seat. And even if you screens were installed, at least from that first image above, they would be very close to your eyes, so you could get eye strain. So what do you do for an hour or more sitting like this? I suppose it would encourage communicating with your neighbor. I guess you could also hold up a magazine or a phone, but it seems like your feet would be bracing you against the floor. I would really need to sit in one of these to figure out what I’d be doing on the flight. So my answer is inconclusive. Until I try these out, I can’t answer the question as to how much I’d be interested in saving. Also, what would happen to children? (Not even talking about babies). I suppose families would be forced to pay more for the regular seats, which would suck.
I’m trying to think what the actual sitting experience would be like. The designs for both types of seats in the images above seem to look uncomfortable. It looks like you probably wouldn’t have a tray table, so forget working on a laptop or even balancing a tablet. So you’d either have to stare at the back of someone’s head for an hour (or more) or at the back of their seat. And even if you screens were installed, at least from that first image above, they would be very close to your eyes, so you could get eye strain. So what do you do for an hour or more sitting like this? I suppose it would encourage communicating with your neighbor. I guess you could also hold up a magazine or a phone, but it seems like your feet would be bracing you against the floor. I would really need to sit in one of these to figure out what I’d be doing on the flight. So my answer is inconclusive. Until I try these out, I can’t answer the question as to how much I’d be interested in saving. Also, what would happen to children? (Not even talking about babies). I suppose families would be forced to pay more for the regular seats, which would suck.