Standing-room-only air travel is like aerial apartheid

On the subject of standing-room only in air travel, most flights are at least an hour long (Vox Pop, DW 4 May).

I get bored and disconsolate if I have to stand on the Tube for more than an hour. On your slowly-failing pegs, Kings Cross to Edinburgh might engage you in interesting stand-up conversation, strong lager and ‘ships in the night’ love, but it’s no fun and it certainly isn’t a pleasure.

So, too, with air travel – flying is an extraordinary experience and we shouldn’t denigrate it further than we already have.

A return to steerage – the ‘fourth class’ passage, or aerial apartheid where some human beings stand in cramped quarters for hours on end, while ‘better’ mortals relax in a seat further forward – might make sense to economists, but it’s not a future I want.

Is this a migrant or outsource worker’s ticket? Perhaps a cheapo option for the hen night? Please – travel like a human, or find some work/fun closer to home.

Nick Talbot, Director, Seymour Powell, London SW6