Posted on 04/24/2006 11:08:11 PM PDT by Paleo Conservative
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.
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"People hear about these new planes, and they have bowling alleys and barber shops," Michael B. Baughan, the president and chief operating officer of B/E Aerospace, a manufacturer of aircraft cabin interiors in Wellington, Fla., said with a bit of exaggeration. "But that's not how planes are delivered. On a real airline, with real routes, you have to be economically viable."
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With a typical configuration, the A380 will accommodate about 500 passengers. But with standing-room-only seats, the same plane could conceivably fit in 853 passengers, the maximum it would be permitted to carry.
"To call it a seat would be misleading," said Volker Mellert, a physics professor at Oldenburg University in Germany, who has done research on airline seat comfort and has seen the design. If such a configuration were ever installed on an aircraft, he said, it would only be used on short-haul flights like an island-hopping route in Japan.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
They would never install this for long haul. Would they?
If you want on or off my aerospace ping list, please contact me by Freep mail.
and that's no Bu!!
I'd stand on a flight from L.A. to Vegas, but that is a short hop. Nothing longer.
It would be more comfortable to stack horizontal bunks in the main cabin.
Might make emergency evacuation a problem, though.
Speaking as an all too often broke student, I'd probably be willing to go the long route on this one.
Wonder how they'd get me to leave the lavotory, though? ;)
If times come and you got to go on your job in china as a commuter maybe costefficiency is such as you got to think twice about having a seat - especially if we got the oil in the hands of good friends like ahmedinedjad and putin.
On the bright side - having low cost commutation will add to shareholders value of all the big global players.
Damn if you got to be the one, who's going.
If you think that's Airbus fault - then you're more then naive.
lavatory, that is.
There's a lot of joking and cutting up going on about this but I can tell you as an old asia hand that it will sell in the orient. If you don't believe me, come ride the subway in Shanghai sometime. Now those folks know how to pack those babies!
We have to pay extra to be treated as well as a sardine.
Or how about in Tokyo where officials in uniforms are there to pack people in during rush hour, so that the subway doors will close? Sad but true.
I can guarantee that if they did, I'd certainly never buy one.
At least they didn't say "...could comfortably fit 853 passengers."
Enough is enough already. Im already mighty uncomfortable in coach class, and i'm no giant, at 6'2", 208lb.
Sitting in a center seat is hell, theres no place to put my arms, and i have to sleep with someones elbow in my face.
Aircraft manufacturers are showing absolute irresponsibility in even suggesting this idea!
Actually, I used to regularly fly the route between Osaka and Tokyo. It was a nice 747 wide body with almost all seats filled. Pricewise it was quite comparable to the bullet train and nearly as comfortable. Flight time was one hour versus three for the train; some of the advantage being off-set by location and transportation to/from the airport to the central city, but less than you'd think. I could show up at the airport 20 minutes before take-off and get on the flight.
Actually, I lived in the Tokyo area and rode these trains. The uniformed officials do NOT pack the people into the trains-- they pack themselves in. The officials are simply there to make sure elbows, umbrellas, coattails, briefcases, etc. are not in the path of the closing doors so it gives the illusion they are packing people in.
I think that this used to be called "steerage".
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