Chicago CEO needs to wash her mouth out with soap

I grew up in an Irish Catholic home, where the word "hell" wasn't so much a curse word as it was a potential destination for my immortal soul.

And so, when an executive from Chinese carrier Spring, during a recent presentation at the World Low Cost Airlines Congress in Barcelona, misidentified me as a Chicago-based CEO and misquoted me as saying that stand-up seats would be "an interesting trip to hell", I couldn't help but chuckle.

Lord knows all trips to hell are interesting. I'm told that the problem arises when you actually get there.

But I digress. My friend over at Aviation Week, Andy Compart, was in the audience when the Spring executive showed the following slide.



Compart, who was kind enough to forward the slide along, says:

I didn't even realize until I got a copy of the presentation how badly they butchered your quote -- which is odd, since the original quote already was in English! Someone must have translated it to Chinese and then back into English. The botched version actually slams the airline's proposal.

But should the airline's proposal be slammed? Does Spring's idea for a standing-room only configuration look like a hell of a good one? Or a hellish ride? Or will passengers feel like hell when they reach their destination?

See for yourself. Compart has a raft of amazing pictures to show you in his blog: "Standing-Room Only Seats - The Photos."