Every now and then I feel like we report on some new, fresh, crispy hell relating to how airlines plan to shove as many people as possible into a given volume of space on an airplane, and so far, thankfully, the worst of these avaricious torture implements of skinflintery have yet to be actually implemented on a commercial aircraft. But the threats keep coming, most recently in the form of some genuinely miserable-looking “standing only” airplane seats that some budget airlines have said they’ll implement starting in 2026, which, if current thinking on calendar-based math proves true, will be “next year.”
News outlets reporting on theses seats, which were first seen back in 2018 at the Aircraft Interiors Expo in Hamburg, Germany, don’t seem to be specifying exactly which airlines are signing up to use these, which makes me a bit skeptical, because if these airlines have announced that they’re doing this, you’d think the articles would mention which ones they are, which so far I have yet to see.
Well, that’s not entirely true; the Irish famously cheap airline Ryanair has been vocal about wanting such standing-only seats, with their CEO expressing a desire to see his planes fitted with such non-seats since 2012. So I guess they’re on board with this, at least.
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Instagram accounts like this one have suggested that these seats have passed regulatory requirements and passed safety evaluations, leading to the spattering of articles suggesting that these things may actually show up in planes human beings may willingly get on.
Let’s take a look at these un-seats, which are officially called Skyrider 3.0:
They’re sort of a saddle/straddle design, and I guess they at least allow you to lean on the back even if you’re not really in a sitting position. You have some armrests and a seatbelt, at least. The upright design allows for about 30% more seats to be crammed into a given area, and the seats weigh about half of what a conventional economy airline seat weighs, which can provide fuel savings.
There are other mitigating factors at play here: the airplane still needs enough flight attendants to serve all the people on the plane, there still need to be enough emergency exits for all passengers onboard, and the passengers will still need to be able to evacuate the plane in 90 seconds.
Perhaps these seats really have passed all safety checks, but it’s hard to see how rows this close together will allow for passengers of the broad spectrum of sizes human beings come in to be able to evacuate in a hurry. But, if it’s true that safety regulations were, in fact, met, then I guess someone tested this?
For a short flight of an hour or so, maybe these wouldn’t be too bad? And if fares for these kinds of seats were cheap, like dirt cheap, then maybe these are not a bad thing? A $20 flight, or even less? That’s hard to argue with.
That said, these do seem miserable, and if your plane is delayed on the tarmac or anything like that, you could end up strapped to this lightly-padded nightmare for who knows how long. Is cramming as many people as possible into a plane to maximize profits an inherently inhumane act? Probably.
But still, spending maybe $30 or so to go round-trip to spend an evening in some random city you couldn’t drive to in time? That’s kind of appealing.
They still look like they might be more comfortable than the standard seats on Allegiant.
People complain about Spirit, but I think those people have never flow Allegiant, where I swear they engineered the seats to be uncomfortable.
I’ve been on multiple flights where they bribed people off to make the payload for the trip.
I can’t follow how this works in reality so I’m going to continue to assume it won’t exist.
Seats are half the weight, but allows for 30% more seats and 150-200 lb passengers = fuel savings? Not sure that maths.
I’d rather have a seat meet current faa regs for a crash than try to certify my knees.
Hmm, posts up to the ceiling.
This is a load path not intended for when the aircraft was designed. Likely going to need to reinforce the structure. This is expensive and adds weight.
Floor and floor structure are designed for a certain passenger loading. Floor structure may need to be reinforced and new floor panels designed. This is expensive and adds weight.
Seat tracks are designed based on cabin capacity. May need to be redesigned. This is expensive and adds weight.
The extra passenger weight will reduce the capacity for baggage. There won’t be enough bins for carry-ons (especially with losing the ability to store bags under seats. A higher number of bags to be checked.
Many aircraft are passenger limited by the number of exits on the aircraft. Extra emergency exits may be required. This is expensive and adds weight.
The ratio of cabin attendants to passenger is regulated, likely will need more. More cabin attendants mean more cabin attendent seats. This is expensive and adds weight.
Just my two cents with almost 20 years of aircraft design, half of which on interiors.
Yeah, this seems like another instance of the aviation industry choosing the lowest cost options while creating unnecessary and possibly catastrophic problems.
Eh. Don’t buy tickets with those seats. Who are you to determine the market?
I can easily see a plane with X number of rows that are stand-up. planes already have different classes withe bigger seats or more service. Heck, UAL already offers the more-legroom rows (Emergency Exit rows) for a higher price.
Would I stand on a plane? Maybe to Vegas or Phoenix or the Bay Area, an hour trip for me. Any longer and no effing way.
Also, are they assuming everyone has the same leg lengths? Or do they adjust?
Still might be better than a packed subway car in summer with broken A/C while you’re stuck because sparks from the third rail lit the tracks on fire and somebody has to go put it out.
I never did quite understand the use of water around electricity, but that’s how they would put out such small fires. Some dude would walk out carrying one of those pump water tanks and nonchalantly tinkle on the tie fire until it was safe to resume rolling.
Memories of the CTA…
It seems appropriate that these seats kind of look like giant meat hooks.