Standing room only

[nlagalle]

Ok we have all joked about it, but looks like Ryanair have finally done it!

Ryanair to offer cheap standing vertical seat | Perth Now

UK budget airline Ryanair is to offer discounted tickets for passengers willing to stand on flights. Michael O'Leary, the Irish airline's chief executive, will fund the controversial move by charging customer to use the restroom during flights, reports the UK’s Daily Telegraph.
His proposed “vertical seats” would be available in a special standing-room only sections in the rear of commuter flights lasting an hour or possibly longer.
Tickets would cost between $7 and $14 per passenger, Mr OLeary said in TV interview.
Ryanair has already held talks with airline Boeing about fitting them into the rear of its 250 planes.

 

[nlagalle]

And a response from Tiger:

Tiger Airways considers standing-only airfares | Perth Now

TIGER Airways would consider introducing a "standing-only" option for passengers in a bid to lower airfares. The low-cost carrier said it could follow in the footsteps of UK budget airline Ryanair and introduce “vertical seating”.
“We continue to look at ways of making our operation more efficient so we can offer even lower fares than we do now,” Tiger Airways director, Steve Burns, said.
“Everything we do is about offering the lowest possible fare then allowing our customers to choose what, if any, extras they wish to pay for

 

[samh004]

Oh joy, I can’t wait for Tiger to become the joke that RyanAir is.

 

[kamchatsky]

Well when LCC was initially introduced people don't think they can survive. But then they open a new market for the leisure travellers. You never know, it could open the market up again.

 

[MrHyde]

They still have a long way to go before they can convince the Aviation authorities that it is a safe way to travel. Also, I think Boeing have already knocked back RyanAir's plans as unfeasible in their aircraft.

In any case, I think for short flights, it could be an option. Look at trains in Europe... you can either reserve a seat or take chance in finding an empty seat. If you can't find one, you end up standing or sitting in the aisle for the journey. Pretty much same thing as far as RyanAir or Tiger is concerned.

 

[Dave Noble]

They still have a long way to go before they can convince the Aviation authorities that it is a safe way to travel.

When this was first mooted a while back, istr it being reported that there isn't actually anything in safety regulations that require passengers to be seated. safety wise , I find it hard to imagine that it is unsafe to have someone standing as long as they have something in place to replace seat belts

Standing on a tube train would seem more risky to me

If the prices are low enough , I think that they will have people buying it

Dave

 

[docjames]

I presume this will mean removing the overhead loackers as you cant stand up in a 738 beneath one (well, I cant @ 6"5"). mrsdoc can (barely) at 5'6"....

So where to standing pax put luggage (or are they expected to bring none?)


Ryanair - what a great publicity stunt.

 

[blueflamenco]

At the 7-$14 mark I think they will have quite a bit of interest. It would make travel by air between certain destinations the cheapest way to go and I'm certain that this would appeal to many.

 

[ric_melb]

Yet again more publicity stunts by Ryanair and Tiger.
Boeing have already said no, I am sure the authorities will say no.

 

[Flying Fox]

I guess that they would need more FAs and would have to review evacuation proceedures etc...

Wouldn't want to do it SYD-LON ...

 

[docjames]

Yet again more publicity stunts by Ryanair and Tiger.
Boeing have already said no, I am sure the authorities will say no.

Obstacles I can see to it really happening are

- crash safety (standards are always increasing, they have to work out how in a relatively "survivable" crash, pax arent going to get injured on these seats)

- evacuation rate / max evacuation capacity (this is a biggie as Boeing has essentially said it wont increase the pax evacuation numbers on the 738)

- crewing (easily overcome but adds cost so is a drawback to ryanair)

- What happens when there's a 3 hours ground delay on the 45 minute flight? That's a lot of standing.

Demand from pax doesnt come into it - that's been proven that if the fares are low enough, pax will buyit and use it.

Frankly, you arent going to fit that many more than just seats to be worth it, plus you'd lose cabin storage areas so making it impractical.

I'm sure there's other reasons why this wont get off th ground, but it's doing a fantastic job ogf providing free worldwide advertising for ryanair and further positinging themselves (in their eyes at least, and certainly many consumers) as the ultimate low cost airline.


Just think - Joe Average is reading the paper, reads this article.

A few weeks later, decides he wants to travel London to Amsterdam for a weekend. Which airline (website) does he go to thinking it'll be the lowest fare? And with a lack of understanding of the product and/or all the extra charges, he has no idea it would have been easier just to book with BA for an equivalent price.

 

[Homer]

No wonder QF is dumping F from most sectors. If this new “standing class” takes off then J will be the new F. Imagine the looks those snobby pax in Y, who *sit down* for the entire flight, eat with cutlery and, er, read books are going to get from the standing pax in the “main cabin”.

 

[Groundfeeder]

They may introduce "standing" J & F, with padded bolsters instead of the wood or metal jobs for Y!!

And room to put your feet up on the shoulders of those in front of you, and maybe even recline 2 degrees.

I suspect the seatbelts will be similar to those found on popular rides at Dreamworld, where you cannot undo them - oh, the imagination is staggering:mrgreen::mrgreen:

 

[JohnK]

Yes I know we have joked about it but I for one would be interested in Economy Minus for short(ish) flights if it was safe and airfares significantly lower. After all I have stood on long haul flights for over an hour chatting to FA's or fellow passengers on more than one occassion.

 

[PaulC83]

Pure publicity,

I can't see how they could make a business of it, with cut price (lower revenue), whilst increasing weight (a large cost). Yes you could remove seats etc. but surely the modifications to the aircraft to accommodate for the extra number would negate this?

Anyway, I am not sure why I am thinking so seriously about it...

 

[markis10]

Economy Minus = tiger.

 

[medhead]

Bearing in mind that I haven't actually seen any pictures of the proposed standing option. Wouldn't the answer for carry on storage be to move the overhead lockers to the floor with pax standing on that. Or a low level individual compartment that is integrated into the leaning frame thing. For safety they are going to have to provide some type of fixed support. Even with that I could imagine that the support frame might be about half the width of current seats. So theoretically more pax could be carried, without considering other things like evacuation etc.

The floor based compartment idea would of course be not as high as the overhead lockers.

 

[harvyk]

I think this is another stunt by Ryanair, look at how long they have been talking about installing pay toilets on board...

Infact about a year ago they decided the cost vs return was to small and they scrapped that idea...

Besides, even with standing room only, they need to be able to evacuate a plane within 90 seconds... Plus I wonder how many people will sue them after a hard landing and there is the odd broken leg or two.

 

[simongr]

Oh joy, I can’t wait for Tiger to become the joke that RyanAir is.

You mean a company making a profit of 319M Euros in the midst of an economic crisis?

The other publicity stunt that would never eventuate was that they were going to remove check in desks... and QF will soon be doing the same thing..

 

[Dave Noble]

You mean a company making a profit of 319M Euros in the midst of an economic crisis?

I somehow think that Tiger will be happy if they can make those sorts of profits. Ryanair may have things to consider when booking, but to be fair, generally as a low cost carrier they do offer low cost fares

Dave