Capitol Hill witnesses end of fight to stop airline seats shrinking

Senator Charles Schumer’s (Dem) amendment attached to an FAA authorization bill met with a watery grave on Thursday, failing by a vote of 42-54. The amendment would have seen the FAA forced to set a seat minimum size aboard commercial aircraft together with a minimum distance between rows. Diminishing personal space has been the top compliant from fliers for a number of years now.
Over time, the current average seat size of 17 inches has shrunk from 18.5, while the distance between seat rows has shrunk from 35 inches to 31 in the same period. Other than in the exit row, there is no federal mandate dictating how much space is allocated between seat rows.
On the basis the more seats there are the greater the ticket sales, manufacturers and airlines have been consistently working on cabin upgrades to fit more seats. According to a statement made by Schumer after Thursday’s vote: “Airlines have been cramming consumers into airplanes like sardines and instead of lowering their prices several major airlines went the other direction — they started charging for the extra inches in legroom that was once considered standard.” Schumer also blamed airline lobbyists for the amendment’s defeat.
This is not the first time such a proposal has been put forward. In February a similar idea was rejected during a US House Transportation Committee meeting. However, Thursday’s vote did see a mandate for secondary cockpit barriers approved, a move welcomed by the Air Line Pilots Association International.