The New York Times offers up an interesting article detailing the strategies of the airline business to increase revenue. One possible solution: Fitting more bodies on a plane by having passengers "standing" instead of sitting. No joke:

Airbus has been quietly pitching the standing-room-only option to Asian carriers, though none have agreed to it yet. Passengers in the standing section would be propped against a padded backboard, held in place with a harness, according to experts who have seen a proposal.

But even short of that option, carriers have been slipping another row or two of seats into coach by exploiting stronger, lighter materials developed by seat manufacturers that allow for slimmer seatbacks. The thinner seats theoretically could be used to give passengers more legroom but, in practice, the airlines have been keeping the amount of space between rows the same, to accommodate additional rows.

In fake related news, no word yet on how adding snakes will eventually increase flight prices.