Standing Room Only?

by Nicole Weston (RSS feed)
May 1st 2006 at 7:03PM

Better start saving up your frequent flier miles because in the not-too-distant future, you may really need them. It is possible that air travel will no longer be an issue of first class versus coach and how much leg room you'll have, but whether you'll have leg room at all.

Some airlines are toying with the idea of eliminating seats from their economy classes and having the section be standing only. Instead of seats, there will be padded boards for patrons to lean against during takeoff and landing, as FAA regulations only require passengers to be "secure," not seated. Airbus, which is the airplane manufacturer heading this movement, has been pitching the idea to several carriers, mostly those in Asia that they perceive as more likely to accept the sardine-like travel arrangements than Americans. The capacity for a flight on an A380 is 500 passengers, but the standing configuration would boost that number to 853. All Nippon Airways and Japan Airlines reported hearing of the plans from Airbus, but said they had "no interest in increasing seat capacity to [that] level."

There is little doubt that first class seats would be unaffected by a move towards this configurations, perhaps even increasing in size, as airlines add chairs than recline into beds and a wider than ever before.

Tags: air, airbus, airline, airlines, airplanes, coach, economy class, first class, flying, seats, travel

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

F451 May 2nd 2006 9:28AM

Re: "FAA regulations only require passengers to be 'secure,' not seated."

Electronic Code of Federal Regulations -- Title 14: Aeronautics and Space

PART 25�AIRWORTHINESS STANDARDS: TRANSPORT CATEGORY AIRPLANES

Subpart D�Design and Construction

Personnel and Cargo Accommodations

� 25.785 Seats, berths, safety belts, and harnesses.

(a) A seat (or berth for a nonambulant person) must be provided for each occupant who has reached his or her second birthday.

DJ May 2nd 2006 9:36AM

I seem to recall that over the past few years, there have been several people seriously injured and even killed as the result of extreme air turbulence. This proposal also brings to mind the overcrowded trains and ferries in developing countries we read about when tragedy strikes them. Plus, does this plane have enough room for the luggage of that many people?

Nicole Weston May 2nd 2006 10:21AM

F415 - It is interesting to note that they are calling the padded boards "seats." Perhaps the FAA accepts them as seats and simply does not require the person to be sitting?

F451 May 7th 2006 11:14AM

1) Since this entire story has turned out to be pretty bogus (NYT has published not one but two corrections to it), I doubt the FAA has ever been approached about radically changing the definition of 'seat,' let alone made any such ruling.

2) In the certification documents for tranport aircraft, there are numerous technical specifications seats have to meet, which it would be very, very difficult for these backboard to satisfy for reasons I won't go into in such a limited comment space.

Mostly, this story was just lousy reporting.