Judges order FAA to review airplane seat sizes

[Wingnut]

Not sure if this any juges business to be involved.  But hey the airlines need a swift kick.

"This is the case of the incredible shrinking airline seat."
That's how a federal judge in Washington D.C., Patricia Millet, described the issue in a decision she and two other judges handed down Friday, ordering the Federal Aviation Administration to review seat sizes and legroom on commercial airlines.
Previously, the FAA has refused to mandate how much space airlines must ensure customers have on planes. But the judge's decision will force the agency to revisit the issue.
In a statement Saturday, the FAA said it is "studying the ruling carefully and any potential actions we may take to address the Court's findings."
The ruling comes after an advocacy group, Flyers Rights, petitioned the FAA in 2015 to implement new rules to regulate seat space.
The FAA rebuked the effort, so Flyers Rights took its demands to court and won the right to move forward.
The group celebrated the judges' decision Friday, saying the court "granted Flyers Rights and airline passengers a victory."

http://money.cnn.com/2017/07/29/news/companies/faa-airline-seat-sizes/index.html

[dfwgator]

I think it's both seat sizes getting smaller and frankly, people getting fatter that is creating this issue.

[Wingnut]

I think it's both seat sizes getting smaller and frankly, people getting fatter that is creating this issue.

There were fat people traveling before the 1978 deregulation of the airlines.......but they road the hound.  :)

[dfwgator]

There were fat people traveling before the 1978 deregulation of the airlines.......but they road the hound.  :)

[Applewood]

I think it's both seat sizes getting smaller and frankly, people getting fatter that is creating this issue.

Not necessarily fat people.   Yes, I'm fat, but I've watched normal size people try and fail to fit comfortably into airplane seats.  Once there was a guy, slim and obviously athetic in an aisle seat.  However, the guy had broad shoulders, and while the rest of him fit into the seat, his right shoulder was sticking out into the aisle by a mile.  The guy must have been in pain after about 2 hours of flight attendant hitting him in the shoulder with the beverage cart.  Not that it was the flight attendants' fault.  The aisle was so narrow, hitting this guy was unavoidable.

[InHeavenThereIsNoBeer]

Not necessarily fat people.   Yes, I'm fat, but I've watched normal size people try and fail to fit comfortably into airplane seats.  Once there was a guy, slim and obviously athetic in an aisle seat.  However, the guy had broad shoulders, and while the rest of him fit into the seat, his right shoulder was sticking out into the aisle by a mile.  The guy must have been in pain after about 2 hours of flight attendant hitting him in the shoulder with the beverage cart.  Not that it was the flight attendants' fault.  The aisle was so narrow, hitting this guy was unavoidable.

It didn't really hurt, I'm used to it by now.

[LadyLiberty]

To me the problem is not so much the width of the seat as it is the pitch.  If I haven't bought an upsell to economy plus (or whatever the airline calls it), it's like I'm right up against the seat in front of me, and very uncomfortable if that passenger wants to recline -- and I'm only 5'4".

JetBlue has a good product, IMO.  Their pitch in regular economy is only one inch less than United's economy plus.  If you want to pay up for their "even more space," it's really roomy.  If you want to recline your seat, the top of the seat remains in the same place and the bottom of the seat slides forward, so you lose a little leg room but you don't encroach on the passenger behind you.

[jmyrlefuller]

Must resist urge to make Ann Coulter joke...

[Applewood]

@InHeavenThereIsNoBeer

 

[NavyCanDo]

Just below my office is the warehouse where all the airline seats for Boeing 737s are unboxed and staged for movement to the airplanes. Its quite the sight seeing 7 or 8 airplanes sets of seats all staged in one  location. These seats are bought from several different suppliers, purchaced by the airline, not Boeing. In my 30 years there, the seat width if it changed is not noticible to me.  What has changed is people who will bitch and sue over most any thing.

[ABX]

That has to be a safety issue.