Will Clients Stand for ‘Vertical Seats’?

First it was the notion of pay toilets aboard its aircraft that didn’t sit well with Ryanair’s prospective passengers. Now overseas dispatches indicate the ultra-low-cost European carrier may well go with fewer toilets as it weighs the removal of lavatory facilities as well as five rows of conventional seating in order to clear 10 rows of “standing room” at the back of some of its planes.

According to reports by the BBC News Magazine, the U.K. Telegraph and other media, Ryanair is targeting the winter 2011 schedule for the introduction of what it calls “vertical seats,” which would allow passengers to be strapped in while standing up, and that the carrier aims to start safety testing of its standing-room-only concept next year.

Michael O’Leary, Ryanair’s CEO, has said his airline will charge between £4 and £8 for standing room and, to control demand for what would become the single toilet at the front of the aircraft, will introduce a £1 charge for its use, reported the U.K. Telegraph. The vertical seating would be introduced on flights of up to one hour, such as its London-Dublin services.

Contemplating whether this proposed mode of travel will successfully “get off the ground,” International Air Transport Association (IATA) sources recognized that while Ryanair is not an IATA member airline, “There are always interesting commercial ideas floating around the industry. But I would hope that any airline considering (such) a radical in-flight service change would make sure they are in compliance with all legal, regulatory and safety standards.”

Asked about the safety and viability of the standing-room concept, all a U.S. Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) official would offer was a terse “no comment.”

On the other hand, Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary was apparently not at a similar loss for words regarding in-flight operational proposals aired by his carrier and the impact such operations have had on the European travel scene. Extolling the economic virtues of unbundling airfares as his airline has, O’Leary was quoted in a recent International Edition of Newsweek as noting: “We are the means by which hundreds of thousands can now travel back and forth (across Europe); they are almost commuting.”

The Ryanair head stated, “Deregulation is one of the very few successes Europe has had (and, as such) low-cost airlines are the new Europe.”

However, on the subject of standing room flights, Megan Lane of the BBC stated that “aviation experts say such plans are pie in the sky.”

Lane noted, “It’s not the first time the airline has floated the standing seats idea, or indeed come up with headline grabbing schemes which fail to materialize. Charging passengers to use loos (bathrooms) is another example, as is a so-called fat-tax — surcharging overweight flyers.”

“Why announce innovations which don’t happen? It’s… Ryanair’s unique approach to PR,” said Lane.

Jane Richards of The Brighter Group, a UK-based travel and aviation public relations and marketing firm, agreed that this announcement of the installation of “vertical seats” aboard the aircraft — as well as the earlier reports of “pay-as-you-go” toilets — are not serious propositions and attributed them to the Ryanair chieftain’s talent as a “master of public relations.”

Attempts to elicit a response from Ryanair to questions posed regarding the validity of these announcements and observations were unsuccessful at presstime.