For years airlines have been shrinking legroom for passengers on aircraft and now the Federal Aviation Administration has declined to put a stop to it.
The FAA was ordered to address the “case of the incredible shrinking airline seat” by a judge in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in 2017. On Friday, the regulatory agency responded to that order by ruling that seat shrinkage does not, in fact, affect consumer safety, so the FAA won’t be setting limits on legroom or seat width.
“The FAA has no evidence showing that current seat dimensions hamper the speed of passenger evacuation, or that increased passenger size creates an evacuation issue,” an FAA spokesman told MarketWatch. “During an evacuation, passengers stand up in just a few seconds, which is less time than it takes for emergency exits to begin functioning and for the line that begins forming in the aisle to clear.”
The passenger rights group FlyersRights.org filed a petition in 2017 to ask the FAA to establish a minimum seat pitch for U.S. airlines. The average seat pitch — the distance between seats — for a short-haul domestic flight is 31 inches. Economy airlines like Frontier and Spirit have seat pitch as low as 28 inches. Seat width has also been on the decline.
Last May, American Airlines AAL, +3.20% planned forthcoming Boeing BA, +2.18% Max jetliners with two fewer inches of legroom in coach — 29 inches versus 31 inches — but re-evaluated that plan in June to maintain at least 30 inches of legroom.
Besides being uncomfortable, the shrinking seats threaten the ability to evacuate a plane within 90 seconds, an FAA requirement, said Paul Hudson, president of FlyersRights.org. He said “the only likely recourse is for the traveling public is by overwhelming public outcry.”
“The FAA says that it has seen no evidence that passenger size, age or physical capacity effects evacuation time because it refuses to do testing that actually reflects the current passenger population and shrunken seats and aisle widths in any realistic way,” Hudson said.
The organization is suggesting consumers file complaints on Regulations.gov, send in videos of passenger experiences to Flyersrights.org, and contact their Congress members.
Cramped seating also increases tension on planes and can set the stage for an unpleasant on-board experience, according to Christopher Elliott, a consumer travel advocate and founder of Elliott Consumer Advocacy.
He attributed the increasing number of highly-publicized fights and altercations on flights to tensions heightened by discomfort in the air. “People have less room in the seats, the seats are less comfortable than they used to be, and they are reacting in a very predictable way: they’re freaking out,” he said. “Minimum seat size could stop these mid-air confrontations.”
There may still be a chance seat size will be addressed in the coming year, however. The U.S. Department of Transportation’s inspector general Calvin Scovel announced a review of the FAA’s evacuation standard in June, responding to requests from the House Transportation Committee. He noted that modern planes have more seats, larger passengers, and more carry-on bags, making a review necessary.
