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In the latest addition to "brilliant ideas that China likes to try," Spring Airlines is now considering selling standing-only tickets to passengers on their flights. The budget airline currently has only 13 planes in their fleet and cannot meet growing demand for more flights from more passengers.
In the new model, passengers would be sitting on something resembling a bar stool with seat belts tied around the waist. The president of Spring Airlines likened the experience to "catching a bus, with no seat, no luggage consignment, no food, no water."
The plan would supposedly help the airline cut 20 percent of their cost while allowing 40 percent more room for passengers.
If this is all sounding familiar, that's because Airbus tossed around the idea of standing seats back in 2003. Then they scrapped it, only to have the New York Times run a front page story on it in 2006. Ironically, Spring Airlines purchases their planes from Airbus and has asked them to help formulate a model that would accommodate the standers.
The plan has yet to be submitted to Chinese aviation regulators so we are not sure if such a model would conform to airline regulations. If it were to pass, it might not be the worst idea in the world- while no Chinese airline has a fabulous reputation for comfort, people buy standing tickets and suffer through much longer journeys on trains every day.
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Well, if you don't like it, you can always pay more to fly on Air China, CE or Shanghai Air. LOL! Spring is actually a profitable carrier without state aid. Chinese carriers are as comfortable as US carriers. If you compare Chinese carriers to ethnic Chinese carriers like Cathay Pacific and Singapore Airlines, then the service is lousy by comparison. Go to skytrax.com, Air China, CE and China Southern are rated 3 stars, just like Air Canada, United and American Airlines.
How did you get the impression that someone was knocking Chinese airlines?
Looks like someone just earned their 200 RMB monthly bonus...
It's a bit too much when they market company products to passengers on those flights over 2 hours.
I'm quite impressed by some of our dear expats who must be living in China against their will.
Dmn commie, dont you know we were "somebody" at home?
Actually, most expats in management positions were really "somebody", they were simply somebody willing to go to China. Smart enough to be on their own but not top flight enough to send to a filthy, dodgy, half assed country to become an alcoholic.
As for the standing seats on Spring Airlines, I suppose the next logical step would be to sell diapers, especially during spring festival, just like on the Chinese trains.
I've got convinced Mr. nanheyangrouchuan is really "somebody", not only willing to go to China but having enough guts as well to brave the hard-seat on Chinese train, even in Springfest time, though with diapers.
And I'm convinced that commenters like you can't even do that.
It's not clear what's wrong with this idea. If more than one carrier adopted it, it sounds like it would lower the cost of a ticket. On a short flight, where standing isn't much of an inconvenience, I don't see very much downside.
If the standing "spots" allowed you to have a harness, which strapped you in facing backward (the direction the flight attendants get to sit), i could imagine that they'd even be marginally safer in a crash.
Spring Airlines should obviously also be considering purchasing more planes though.
It's not clear what's wrong with this idea. If more than one carrier adopted it, it sounds like it would lower the cost of a ticket. On a short flight, where standing isn't much of an inconvenience, I don't see very much downside.
If the standing "spots" allowed you to have a harness, which strapped you in facing backward (the direction the flight attendants get to sit), i could imagine that they'd even be marginally safer in a crash.
Spring Airlines should obviously also be considering purchasing more planes though.