Option Was Considered In 2003, But Abandoned

Last week, several media sources -- including Aero-News -- picked up on a story from the New York Times regarding what sounded like an idea almost too disturbing to be true: that airlines could one day install near-vertical "seats" against the walls and bulkheads of their airliners, creating room for additional passengers to stand -- held in place by harnesses -- for the entire flight. The Times cited a study by Airbus, which the paper said had been researching the idea for years.

On Tuesday, the Times issued a retraction of that story, stating that while preparing the story, the Times' questions to Airbus were "imprecise." Airbus now maintains that while the European manufacturer looked into the idea in 2003, it has since abandoned the notion -- and that there are no current plans to offer what ANN dubbed the "meathook-class" option for airlines to add more capacity to their planes.

We're just relieved that cooler heads -- and feet -- prevailed in the discussion to add such an option (although we're also somewhat unsettled that such an idea was ever brought up in the first place.)

In the meantime, the next time you're cramped into a coach-class middle seat on a transcontinental flight, just bear in the mind it could have been much worse.

FMI: www.airbus.com