Is Standing Room Only the Next Trend?

Yes, you heard that right. Over the past several years, there have been proposals to install "standing room only" accommodations in airline cabins. Airbus introduced the concept in 2003. So far, no airline has installed standing room accommodations, but it would obviously be a way to squeeze even more passengers into a flight.

Standing seating has some advantages. By removing several standard seat rows and replacing them with standing seats, it could be possible to increase passenger capacity by as much as 20%. Typical standing seats may weight up to 50% less than standard seats, reducing fuel burn for an equivalent number of passengers. Since they do not recline, maintenance costs might also decrease.

Standing seats could permit discount carriers to offer a rock-bottom fare, even below current Economy, on short-haul flights, typically no more than two hours long. Ryanair have proposed fares between four and eight pounds for short-haul standing accommodations.

Sounds great, right? Well, there are some definite disadvantages to standing accommodations. The first and most obvious is passenger comfort. Although typical standing seats are designed with a bit of a "bench", so that passengers can lean back and not have to rest all their weight on their legs, they could be very uncomfortable, even claustrophobic, for many passengers. Standing accommodations would be especially difficult for elderly or obese passengers.

Seat pitch in standing rows would make economy pitch look like First Class. Forget tray tables...you would have to balance the food that you purchased in the terminal on your nonexistent lap. And you would not be able to put your carry-ons under the "seat" in front of you, possibly subjecting yourself to extra airline fees for using the overhead bins.

Of course, making coach travel even more uncomfortable than it already is might encourage passengers to at least pay the higher fare for standard coach seating. There might even be a surge in Economy Plus reservations. Airline managers are no fools.

Increasing the number of passengers would increase the weight of the aircraft, possibly pushing it closer to its maximum takeoff and landing weights. This could reduce the amount of baggage and cargo that could be carried on a flight.

There are regulatory issues as well. First would be safety. In order to hold standing passengers in place, it would be necessary to include shoulder harnesses as well as seat belts. Gaining passenger acceptance of these "Top Gun" seat belt arrangements might be difficult.

Second, by fitting more passengers in the cabin, airlines might have to increase the size of their cabin crews to be able to meet the standard 90-second evacuation rules. This would increase labor costs.

Third, the tiny seat pitch and shoulder harnesses might make it difficult for passengers to escape standing seating quickly in an evacuation. Even in a non-emergency situation, such as a window seat passenger wanting to visit the pay toilet, the middle and aisle passengers would have to get out of their fighter pilot seat belts and step into the aisle.

With the money you saved on your fare, you could at least afford to visit the pay toilets that Ryanair have proposed. A fee of one pound has been mentioned.