Standing room only

As stated in the article, Ryanair has gone on about this for years. But no other airline even talks about it.

Additionally, they would have to get government approval. Seats have to go through a series of safety tests before they are approved.

It limits what they can sell. A regular seat can be discounted enough to get people in them. But this type of seat will have limited popularity It may mean less seats actually sold.

It's the same reason my European friends want to know why American hotels don't have single rooms. It's economics. A double room can accomodate one or two people. So if a couple comes in, and needs a room, but all they have are singles, the hotel doesn't make a sale.

If Ryanair makes the standing seat cheap enough then people will buy them. That’s basically Ryanair’s whole business model. Nobody actually likes flying Ryanair - they always have low passenger satisfaction scores. Yet they sell millions and millions of seats and are profitable.

For a lot of people price is the only consideration. That’s not going to be the case if you’re travelling from the US for an expensive vacation, but for people who live in Europe and regularly travel to see family or who need to keep their holiday costs down it really is.

I figure that a company like Ryan and the seat manufacturer has and is spending millions in research and that this thing, if it goes forward, will reflect that research; meaning it will sell. So I wont second guess it.

I hope they put up some test flights to find out. I have never been able to understand why people pay excessively for additional comfort during 1 or 2 hours of their lives. I just want to go places.

they always have low passenger satisfaction scores. Yet they sell
millions and millions of seats and are profitable.

Organizations like Skytrax score discount airlines on the same basis as legacy long haul carriers, so of course they do bad because the score includes the quality of the seat, the inflight entertainment, food quality... those just are not factors on discount carrier. Based on getting from A to B safely and without discomfort they would rank pretty well.

You will be close enough to your seat mates to easily smell their breath. Just hope they practice good oral hygiene.

What would be the next evolutionary step? A "seat" with the luggage and wear a thick coat and oxygen mask like a WWII bomber pilot?

Having said that I guess it would be no big deal if one was healthy and the flight was only an hour. Two hours seems a bit long in that position, and that time frame would expand between boarding and then waiting to get off.

Trying to keep my own feelings out of it (all of which are bad), I'm trying to look at it from a business standpoint and it just doesn't....fly. Right off the bat, we completely take our short range fleet out of contention for medium range flights, even those where we might could compete with refueling or lower loads. Then we have passenger issues. Now you can't have older or overweight passengers who are unable to stand for two hours. And that would be a significant portion of the population. Even healthy middle-aged people would have problems standing for that long. And I don't see how you could have overhead storage. You can't stand up today until you're in the aisle. And of course, there's no underseat storage either. So I have no idea where baggage would go. If it were checked, that would eliminate the advantages of carrying more people. Math works against the whole idea. There's just so much space no matter how you re-arrange it.

In addition to all of the other complications presented, people are of all different heights. With traditional seats, it doesn't matter if your feet don't touch the ground when seated or if your knees hit the back of the seat in front of you. Unless they made this sit/stand model adjustable up and down so your derrière and back connect where they're supposed to, you could end up in a half crouch or tippy-toe stretch to get into position? Maybe they do adjust but don't appear to.

Posted by Kathy

In addition to all of the other complications presented, people are of
all different heights.

Good point. Will there be min/max height requirements? Are children allowed in these seats?

Will there be a shoulder belt in addition to the seat belt?

I've been in landings where the pilot braked so hard, it would have stood everyone up except for the seat belts keeping them down.

In this arrangement, I could see folks grabbing the seat in front to keep from face slamming into it.

I'm thinking horizontal little cubes/rectangles about the size of a coffin, stacked as high as they go.

Like those little cubbyholes in that transport ship in the "Fifth Element" movie. Except there, as soon as you got in and they were ready to take off, they flipped a switch and everybody went unconscious till the end of the flight.

they flipped a switch and everybody went unconscious till the end of
the flight.

I would love that. Let's get that invented.

A new way to find out if the person standing, wedged in next to you suffers from unknown claustrophobia.

Boy, in-flight turbulence while standing/leaning could be problematic.

And how long before there’s a Standing Plus, Standing Business, and Standing Premier Class option, with cushy slippers issued to all standees?

No overhead compartments will exist in the Standing section, right?

And will passengers eventually complain that they can’t stand it?

It's amazing that the seat mfg. and the airlines haven't considered any of this.

Smells like clickbait to me - something you would see at the Onion. Note the vague sourcing, apart from the manufacturer. In addition, isn’t the EU positioning to ban the short haul flights where these seats would be most appropriate?

Mark, I suspect the news media is a trail balloon. If it flies, we may see a few planes later next year. If it pops, then not. I suspect all the legal issues associated with the seats are solved and I suspect that all the functional issues with them are also solved. So, it’s just public perception and will people buy them. I might. I suspect millions are being invested in vetting this in advance. The big guys do make mistakes but not terribly often. So, we wait and see if it plays out. This sort of thing doesnt bother me. I can buy or not buy but I enjoy the entertainment provided by those that let it get under their skin.

This is pretty interesting. I love her style and attitude: https://youtu.be/XgCQyFXz9J8?si=HTbdumhorX6d78cz

As for outlawing short haul flights. There is always some talk, and the French have done some. Makes good sense after you define “short haul”. Is that defined by the length of the flight or the length of the alternative? I can fly to Montenegro in 1:10. Great trip, stunning country. That’s a short haul flight. The option is 20 hours on buses. I don’t think the public will respond well to being told that visiting half the world is no longer practical.

Next question would be my flight from the US to Budapest. The long haul is to Frankfurt but the connection to Budapest would be short haul. So would I have to get off at Frankfurt and take a 10 hour train ride? Or do we make an exception for wealthy international travelers and let them have their connections, and only the locals have to ride the bus?

Somehow i dont think short haul flights are going away anytime soon.

You have to bear in mind that this comes from Ryanair. Michael O'Leary is a notorious troll.

I suspect millions are being invested in vetting this in advance

Doubt it. As others have pointed out, this story has been knocking around for years. Why it has resurfaced, I'm not quite sure. I guess this low-credibility news source has been fed a press release at some point and recycled it just to get some clicks. Seems to have worked for them.

Yes, the article says it's been kicking around since 2018. The article, if true, says the seats past the safety tests. But snother articlr says. "However, to date, both the European and American civil aviation authorities have rejected these proposals on safety grounds." Trsting, ig it happened, and the prototypes i suspect cost a million easy (wild uneducated guess). Troll i think in this case is more like a test balloon. And troll is only appropriate if there was never intent and I suspect (wild uneducated guess) if you go through the trouble to create enough prototypes to conduct and pass safety tests ... some intent must exist.

Tell me i can go fishing in Montenegro for $15 each way, and i will stand for 90 minutes; no problem.

Ryan runs a successful operation, it will be interesting to watch for another 10 years. But I bet we see it tried by someone.

My nose for bs tells me it's a total non-story, but that remains to be seen of course. I could be wrong.

Loving your commitment to calling Ryanair "Ryan" btw :)

Airline customers, even those of budget airlines, won’t stand for something like this.

For me it's just a fun topic to discuss, in that how low can we go so to speak.

But what if somebody is just barely able to scrape together say $50 for a 2-hour flight while standing, but they are not in very good health to do that. What happens next?

I thought it was interesting to have most of the budget carriers distance themselves from the idea in quotes to The Metro here in the UK. I'm sure Ryanair must have had some money invested in AvioInteriors back when it first came around. I guess they're still working on it and want to keep the profile up. Leading with that they could be flying them in 2026 is clickbait. Maybe I'm wrong, but I think they're some way off approval from the Aviation Authorities in any territory.

[.] fast forward to 2025, and a Ryanair spokesperson told Metro that
passengers don’t need to worry. When asked if the Irish carrier was
set to launch standing-only seats they responded: ‘Ryanair has no
plans to do so.’

Wizz Air also responded to Metro‘s query saying: ‘We can confirm that
Wizz Air has no plans to introduce standing-only seats.’

Meanwhile, easyJet shared their competitors comments, with a
spokesperson telling Metro: ‘We have no plans to introduce.’

Metro also reached out to Jet2, who are yet to respond.

[from The Metro, linked above]

I thought it interesting that the story linked to by Allan came with such poor quality pictures. The yellow made me think of Ryanair's interiors. I don't think they're even ready to show nice photorealistic renders of what they'd look like in a plane, like all the other seats on their website.

If there ever is a need for such a thing in the future, who knows? I don't think there's even any precedent for standing up in an aircraft at all. Maybe in the military? That's a different level of safety of course though.

"In addition, isn’t the EU positioning to ban the short haul flights where these seats would be most appropriate?"

I suspect that once the short haul electric aircraft get going the pressure is going to be less to get rid of them. Not gone, but reduced.

I kind of anticipated seeing this thread a few days ago, but sorry, just a junk article revived by the Daily Mail (a stellar UK publication) followed by any number of online "news" outlets, creating "clickbait". You've been duped.

From what I recall, this all started with annual design contests for university students sponsored by some of the aerospace companies. They come up with wild concepts related to seating and planes, news outlets pick them up and tout as the "near future", but 99% of the ideas never come to fruition, a bit like automotive :concept" cars. The "standing seat" has been around for more than 20 years, resurrected in the tabloids every few years to rile up the unsuspecting.

The short answer is, No, Ryanair is not putting in standing seats, nor any other airline. Ryanair's CEO once did mention thinking it was a concept worth looking at (a bit tongue in cheek), but then they regularly make comments like that, it is good PR, gets their name out there, gets them talked about.

I no longer know what people will or will not put up with so these "seats" don't necessarily get a "no, can't be" from me. Don't care.
I increasing choose different than what seems popular. Or what other people choose to put up with in search of whatever...

Airline customers, even those of budget airlines, won’t stand for
something like this.

Then it won’t happen.

For me it's just a fun topic to discuss, in that how low can we go so
to speak.

Providing services to a greater number of individuals with limited income is going “low”?

Then it won’t happen

That was my point. The disgruntled passengers will stage a sit-in.

Airline customers, even those of budget airlines, won’t stand for
something like this.

Then it won’t happen

That was my point. The disgruntled passengers will stage a sit-in.

Hopefully Mr. E's internal pun detector is now active :-)

I confess to being a bit slow ...

This is brilliant. They don't even need to waste time stopping at airports anymore - just fly over major cities and we can "eject" ourselves at the push of a button and parachute our way down. Carry-on only, of course.