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Colombian Airline Wants To Make Passengers Stand (yahoo.com)

Posted by msmash on from the shape-of-things-to-come dept.

An anonymous reader writes Budget airline VivaColombia is considering plans to remove all seats from its planes and make passengers stand. They hope the move will drive down fares by allowing them to squeeze more passengers into each flight, opening up air travel to working class Colombians and budget holidaymakers. The no-frills carrier announced last week that it is adding 50 new Airbus 320s to its fleet to capitalise on the country's growing tourist market. The new planes will have more seats and lower running costs with the first one going into service at the start of 2018. VivaColombia's founder and CEO William Shaw told the Miami Herald the airline was looking into vertical travel options. He said: "There are people out there right now researching whether you can fly standing up -- we're very interested in anything that makes travel less expensive." He added: "Who cares if you don't have an inflight entertainment system for a one-hour flight? Who cares that there aren't marble floors... or that you don't get free peanuts?"

10 of 249 comments (clear)

  1. That's nothing! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    Its Indian competitor is going to allow people to stand on TOP of the planes, just like on the trains!

    1. Re:That's nothing! by Tablizer · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Yip, third-world travel can make even our chintziest services seem good in comparison.

      Many conservatives point out that even our very poorest often have it better than many in the 3rd world. But, why aim our economic system so low? Don't we want to get better over time instead of back-slide into 3rd-world-ism? Or do they find something sacred about profits?

      --
      Table-ized A.I.
    2. Re:That's nothing! by elrous0 · · Score: 4, Funny

      What's really going to piss passengers off is the 5 chicken limit.

      --
      SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
    3. Re: That's nothing! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Ladies and gentleman: American Exceptionalism on display. Meanwhile, back in reality land, the standard of living, standard of eduction, standard of health and standard of infrastructure has hit second tier in a steady downwards trajectory compared with the true first tier countries in Europe and Asia. This is self evident to anyone traveling to the EU or East Asia today, the US is second tier.

      American Capitalism was good at building stuff, but you might note that the new sky-scrappers are being built in a Chinese city, not in NYC anymore. And the largest airplane is a European A380, not a Boeing Jumbo jet assembled in Everett, WA. And the best application of medical marvels happens in South Korean with socialized medicine, not America with capitalist medicine.

      America needs to pull back on the dive into capitalistic oligarchies and kleptocracy and realize that people live in a society, not an economy.

    4. Re: That's nothing! by ThePyro · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Capitalism means competition. Sometimes the best way to compete is to develop a better product. Great!

      But we've learned a lot of other ways to compete, and unfortunately these other methods are often more effective. We hire lobbyists to change the laws in our favor. We hoard patents so that nobody else may compete. We use teams of lawyers to overwhelm competitors with litigation. We leverage monopolies to gouge consumers. We pollute the environment because cleanup costs are socialized and we get to keep the profit. We reduce quality or safety because we can retire with big fat profit sharing bonuses long before damage to the company's image catches up with us.

      None of these behaviors improve our collective standard of living, but these things happen on a daily basis because the system incentivizes them. Don't be afraid to question the system. It's not perfect.

  2. Take Off And Landing by Oswald+McWeany · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Take Off and Landing sound like adventures.

    --
    "That's the way to do it" - Punch
  3. I can see it now... by corychristison · · Score: 5, Funny

    Super Saver Econo $49.95* New York to Los Angeles
    * add a seat with luxurious safety belt for only $449.95

    Also, it will be much easier to drag people off flights when its overbooked, without all of those pesky seats and saftey belts in the way.

  4. Works for roller coasters by Nkwe · · Score: 5, Interesting

    There are stand up roller coasters which have safety / restraint systems designed to keep riders safe, even when upside down. So from the perspective of keeping passengers in place during flight, it is technically possible. Comfort is of course another matter. If you ever been on a stand up roller coaster, are male, and have had the lower restraint (bicycle seat) set too high, you would fear turbulence on a stand up plane.

  5. Never mind that... by YuppieScum · · Score: 5, Funny

    What about the first time they hit some turbulence?

    *DING* "Ladies and gentlemen, the Captain has just illuminated the 'Fasten Seatbelt' sign, so we'll all be safe while you bounce around the cabin like rubber balls..."

    *DING* "The cabin crew will be passing down the cabin shortly, offering a range of bandages, splints and blood replacement products at very competitive prices..."

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    This sig left unintentionally blank.
  6. Re:I feel obligated to say this... by caseih · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Actually a properly executed barrel roll would not even be felt by the passengers, standing or sitting. It's a constant G maneuver. Back in the day, a test pilot rolled a 707 airliner: https://www.youtube.com/watch?... He was reprimanded, even though it was a completely safe maneuver, as the spectators and potential customers were a bit rattled (they were on the ground watching) by the event.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?... shows Bob Hoover rolling an ordinary twin-engine prop plane while pouring a glass of iced tea.