{"id":31,"date":"2006-04-25T09:40:45","date_gmt":"2006-04-25T14:40:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blacknell.net\/dynamic\/2006\/04\/25\/about-those-fabulous-new-planes\/"},"modified":"2006-04-25T09:40:45","modified_gmt":"2006-04-25T14:40:45","slug":"about-those-fabulous-new-planes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blacknell.net\/dynamic\/2006\/04\/25\/about-those-fabulous-new-planes\/","title":{"rendered":"About those fabulous new planes . . ."},"content":{"rendered":"

I wish this<\/a> were surprising:<\/p>\n

The airlines have come up with a new answer to an old question: How many passengers can be squeezed into economy class?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

A lot more, it turns out, especially if an idea still in the early stage should catch on: standing-room-only “seats.”<\/p>\n

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.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I imagine that this will probably come to pass.\u00c2\u00a0 And, as much as I personally find the idea horrifying, I can imagine high traffic short hop flights where there might be a decent sized part of the market who finds this (presumably lower priced) option a good deal.\u00c2\u00a0 My fear, though, is that the choice will end up being between this barely acceptable service and the obscenely priced top end service.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Airlines – like so many other industries – seem to be unable to find a way to serve a middle market – those who *are* willing to pay more for a quality product, but don’t particularly need a five course meal, ongoing drink service, or amenity kits.\u00c2\u00a0 Every time I fold myself into a coach seat, I find myself willing to pay a substantial bit more for a simple extra six inches of seat space.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Again, all I need is space, and I’d be willing to add anywhere from $30 to a couple hundred dollars to get it, depending on the length of the flight.\u00c2\u00a0 I know there are always business class tickets, but\u00c2\u00a0 the gap between them and coach is a lot more than a couple\/few hundred dollars, and usually more than I can justify for personal travel.\u00c2\u00a0 I can’t imagine that I’m alone in wanting a reasonable middle market for air travel.\u00c2\u00a0 Until that emerges, I’m left spending either far more than I want, or a good bit less than I’d be willing to, to simply get from A to B in a reasonable manner.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I wish this were surprising: 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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"activitypub_content_warning":"","activitypub_content_visibility":"","activitypub_max_image_attachments":4,"activitypub_interaction_policy_quote":"anyone","activitypub_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-travel"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t