Airbus engineers looking at SRO "seating" (standing room only).

[DemoTex]

One Day, That Economy Ticket May Buy You a Place to Stand

The airlines have come up with a new answer to an old question: How many passengers can be squeezed into economy class?

A lot more, it turns out, especially if an idea still in the early stage should catch on: standing-room-only "seats."

Airbus has been quietly pitching the standing-room-only option to Asian carriers, though none have agreed to it yet. Passengers in the standing section would be propped against a padded backboard, held in place with a harness, according to experts who have seen a proposal.

But even short of that option, carriers have been slipping another row or two of seats into coach by exploiting stronger, lighter materials developed by seat manufacturers that allow for slimmer seatbacks. The thinner seats theoretically could be used to give passengers more legroom but, in practice, the airlines have been keeping the amount of space between rows the same, to accommodate additional rows. (More ..)

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/25/business/25seats.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Just when you thought airline travel could not be any more uncomfortable or degrading than it is now. Jeez-O-man! What will they think of next? Wait, please don't tell me.

Coming Into Los Angeles
Words and Music by Arlo Guthrie

Coming in from London
From over the pole
Standing in a big airliner
Chickens flying everywhere around the plane
Could we ever feel much finer?

CHORUS:
Coming into Los Angeles
Bringing in a couple of keys
Don't touch my bags if you please
Mister Customs Man

[benburch]

criminal nt

[babylonsister]

1. That sounds hideous. They're developing real cattle cars. nt

[Daphne08]

2. WHAT? n/t

[TechBear_Seattle]

3. Never ask, "What next?"

I heard it will be pay toilets (still free in First Class, of course.)

[partylessinOhio]

4. Whatever the market will bear!

:evilgrin:

[KittyWampus]

20. they blame highter petrol costs. Need to cram more people in.

also mentions using thinner but more durable materials to make seats to they can get more seats in too.

[Missy M]

5. That is the most ridiculous, preposterous, degrading proposal..

I have heard yet. Anyone who would even consider flying on that kind of plane would have to be out of their mind. It reminds me of steerage class when the ships were bringing immigrants to America.

[leveymg]

6. Even pets get their own cage.

Suppose they could really pack 'em in if passengers were made to lie down on slats.

[The_Casual_Observer]

7. It's easy for me to visualize this in Asia.

The coffin sized "Hotel Room" is already very popular there.

[Book Lover]

8. Why Asia? (nm)

[The_Casual_Observer]

10. That's where it's being pitched,

Ever seen a subway in Japan?

[Book Lover]

12. Your edit

answers my question. Thanks.

[GymDude]

9. That sounds like a parody article from The Onion...n/t/

[ReadTomPaine]

11. Sedatives required next? n/t

[Sinti]

13. Come on, kids, it'll be like a carnival ride ;) n/t

[SammyWinstonJack]

24. I hate carnival rides.

[geomon666]

14. This is disgusting, not to mention horrendously dangerous.

What's going to happen when some rough turbulence kicks in? You goddamn money sucking bastards.

[Itchinjim]

15. Well, at least I'd have some leg room that way.

n/t

[Bob3]

16. This is from an Old Bob Newheart Routine

The Grace L Ferguson Airline and Storm Door Company

"We decided that what the passenger really wanted was cheap transportation and so we eliminated what we in the airline business call Frills and extras

Like Maintenance, and Radar and whole lot of technical instruments in the back.

I'm sorry for you having to stand all the way. A little tip in first class you might want to alternate your arms in the overhead straps every hour or so. You people in Coach you don't have any straps so don't bother looking for them"

[KansDem]

17. What about strapping in for takeoff and landing?

Will passengers strap themselves to the walls and floor? Or haven't the genius exces thought of this yet...

[KittyWampus]

19. There are vertical restraining devices they strap themselves into

No, I'm not kidding.

[DemoTex]

22. There is an illustration on the front page of today's New York Times.

The "seat" is a semi-flat, padded affair, with a small "shelf" for the butt. The "seat" is reclined about 10-degrees from the vertical, and has a restraining bar like a roller-coaster (snicker, snicker) that comes down across the chest. I'll post a picture if I can find one.

On edit: Bingo! Look on the left side of the front page:

[KansDem]

23. Thanks, DemoTex!

At first I was trying to figure out what the people in the big, color picture were doing then realized you meant the drawing on the left. So what if you don't want to leave your "seat?" What if the airlines say "time to stand up" and you say "no thanks, I'd rather sit." How will they react?

[0007]

18. Sounds like a damn good idea to me. They could even

eliminate the restrooms. Old folks go in the luggage department. A light will be installed for those that can still read.

[MissB]

21. How do you put your head between your knees when the plane crashes?

[DemoTex]

25. Olberman covered this story on "Countdown" last night (replayed this AM).

He had plenty of GREAT graphics.

[Pavulon]

26. What f**ckers

I would rather take a sleeping pill and sleep on the floor of a 141 than fly commercial. I was truly more comfortable sleeping on the floor on my shit than the last POS embraAir flight I took.

Even being kicked to wake up and yelled at for not being properly restrained by the loadmaster beat the knee crushing torture of short haul flights.

Note the Asian carriers part. When in Tokyo I did note people had more patience for tight spaces. The notion of personal space changes there.

Still. Someone kick the engineer in the balls for coming up with this.

[RebelOne]

27. Airbus denies standing room 'seats'

Airbus denies standing room 'seats'
Airbus disputes report it is in discussion with Asian airlines to offer padded backboards to have flyers stand in effort to increase capacity.
By Chris Isidore, CNNMoney senior writer
April 25, 2006: 8:43 AM EDT

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - Airlines and aircraft makers are always looking to get the most passengers possible onto planes, but Airbus is denying a report that it is in discussions with carriers about having a standing room "seat" to fit even more passengers on its jets.

The New York Times reported that Airbus has quietly pitched the standing-room-only option to Asian carriers, though none have agreed to it yet. But a spokeswoman for Airbus flatly denied the report Tuesday, going so far as to call it "crap."

"Our passengers and customers want more and more comfort," said Barbara Kracht a spokeswoman for the European aircraft maker. "We're going in the direction of more comfort, not in that direction."

The paper, quoting experts who it said had seen a proposal, reported that if the standing room option is used, passengers would be propped against a padded backboard, held in place with a harness.

http://money.cnn.com/2006/04/25/news/companies/airline_standing/index.htm