Will that be Sardine Class, Sir?

We’ve seen a lot of nonsense about how far the low-cost airlines will go in extracting money from the pockets of their customers. I think everyone’s fed up with Ryanair’s proposal that people should pay to use the toilets on board an aircraft. Let’s admit it; Michael O’Leary has a great sense of humour. But I am still amazed at how the low-cost airlines are still talking about standing passengers. Unsurprisingly, Ryanair is on the bandwagon but, more surprisingly, Spring Airlines of China is seriously proposing so-called half-standing seats, which would take the capacity of an A320 from 180 to a whopping 258. Spring is now urging low-cost airlines to club together and address the industrialisation challenges.

Now, it’s good to dream, but has anyone stopped to think about emergency evacuation constraints? Or the impact of the increased payload on the design weights? And where do you put the extra baggage anyway? But wait! Sardine seating is perfect for the military, so maybe the designers will equip passengers with parachutes too, so then at least we can forget about the 16g load limit.

We are already being tortured by oppressive security checks, huge congestion at overcrowded airports, problems with delayed and lost baggage. No-one can convince me that 'standing room only' aircraft is progress.