Most of us know how stressful air travel can be — from crowded security lines to flight delays and people who think it’s a good idea to eat cabbage soup on a plane. It’s all you can do to find a modicum of comfort. Now, on top of all the other fun airport obstacles, imagine standing for the duration of your flight.
That’s what budget airline VivaColombia has proposed in an attempt to slash ticket prices. By replacing all the seats on a plane with tall stools, the airline would be able to squeeze even more people onto one flight. According to The Independent, VivaColombia will add 50 Airbus 320s by 2018 to expand its reach and meet the demands of Colombia’s ballooning tourism industry.
In an interview with the Miami Herald, VivaColombia’s founder and CEO William Shaw 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?” It’s worth mentioning the majority of travelers already go without marble floors and free peanuts. And I wouldn’t exactly call “Frasier” reruns entertainment.
Though VivaColombia wouldn’t be the first airline to propose such a torturous idea. Airbus proposed the idea of vertical seats back in 2003. And who could forget super-cheap airline Ryanair suggesting “bar stools with seatbelts” are the way of the future? Unsurprisingly, the Civil Aviation Authorities tends to disagree with that sentiment. The agency has yet to approve the suggested seat replacements. CAA spokesperson Richard Taylor told the Inquirer, “Unless they can make it 100 percent safe, it won’t be viable.”
Let’s just hope these torture devices won’t get approved any time soon.
