Airline passenger news and views

I find this an interesting innovation from Ryanair. As long as the vertical seats are reasonably comfortable I can see the £4 seat charge being quite popular with passengers on a budget.

The vertical seats do not look comfortable at all; The 'Hannibal Lecter' comparison is spot on!
Ryanair will certainly get plenty of press coverage with this. A publicity stunt or a genuine space/economy saving invention?

When looking at these vertical seats, 'human cattle' springs to mind. A novel idea from Ryanair but project could be huge waste of money, as they are unlikely to get past the stringent safety tests.

You can see their point, can't you? If you can stand in a bus, then why not a plane. However, from the diagram above, I can't see how they would save much space, and accomodate more passengers.
As an ex-pilot, I am well aware of the dangers of standing up in a flying aircraft, but if the restraints [seat-belts] were properly designed, then in safety terms, you would be no worse off in a crash.

Airlines certainly need to find effective ways of reducing the cost of flying for consumers, if it means vertical seats on flights, so be it. I do not agree with the toilet charge though, it's not the £1 per use that bothers me, just the principle.

I am interested to know the reasons why rival airlines have not already invested in a similar invention. Is it because vertical seating has already been rejected on technical grounds? Or do they believe it to be a non-profitable solution?

This could substantially increase fuel costs and carbon emissions for Ryanair, making their planes heavier by cramming in more passengers in heavily reinforced upright seats. That being said, charging next to nothing for these seats is bound to attract many travellers on a budget.

Could this just be a 'publicity' stunt, and a way of 'grabbing the headlines', I for one cannot imagine travelling like this on an aircraft, it looks completely uncivialised. Where will this end?

I think this time Ryanair have really lost the plot. When looking at the vertical seats I can't believe that it would be a safe way to travel and I would definatley want to travel like that no matter how cheap it was!

I would be very concerned at letting a child travel like this, I think they would find it a very frightening experience in general, I expect there would be parents out there that would see it as a way of cheap travel and wouldn't take into account what their children's feelings were to this.

Cannot believe they will be charging to go to the loo....what if you have travel sickness, or worse!! The idea of trying to find a £1 coin every time is ridiculous.

Ryanair’s pay for toilet system could be extremely clumsy. There will be echoes of 'have you got any change air hostess?' and 'the coin slot is jammed, what now!?' I cannot really see this one working.

Yes, the idea of running out of change is a scary one! Something would go wrong with this idea and tempers would be short I would imagine!

I hate Ryan Air full stop. You are treated so badly from start to finish, ok, it is a no frills service but the idea of charging to go to the loo is ridiculous and impractical and spells disaster for all concerned. It makes me so angry.

Folks, fear not, it's a publicity stunt.

I just read Tom's comment and, whilst I agree that this is not going to happen any day soon, I do think it will be considered as a serious proposition.
Some form of seating is required for take-off and landing. Outside of that, people could happily stand and walk around. I can see the idea that seats or even just restraints are just made available for the crucial phases.

I think this is purely a publicity stunt and I for one would certainly not travel with Ryaniar out of sheer principle.

I think that the vertical seats are a good idea and alot of people would want to use them, especially on longer night flights.

Well this is a new way of travelling! I think that the seats will be really uncomfortable and will make your journey rather unpleasant and as Jack says seating is required for take-off and landing.

Money talks. Period. Students, people working parttime, backpackers, minimum wage workers, those on welfare etc (the list goes on) are in the hundreds of millions and make up the Huge part of the western civilization.
They would ALL GLADLY pick price over comfort. If millions can share tiny rigid beds in rooms of 12 at backpackers, work 2-3 jobs that require them to stand all day, MILLIONS would GLADLY go for these seats.
Don't knock it yet, because the market's there and eager.

What Dario writes makes sense. There are some dead cheap hotels that have flourished by getting the balance right with clean simple rooms and low prices. If that is where the market is, then this may just work.
I personally dislike the idea but then it is my choice and I can pay 'extra' for a proper seat.