FlyerRights, a consumer advocate group for airline passengers, has filed a petition with the Federal Aviation Administration demanding that it not only set standards for seat width, pitch and length, but that it put an end to airlines continuing to shrink seating space.
The petition is based on the 2018 FAA Reauthorization Act, which mandated FAA to study and take action on airline seats within one year of the act, which means that the deadline passed in October 2019. FAA took no action until earlier this year when it began collecting comments from consumers and industry, a process that ends next month.
While FAA has traditionally limited its interest in seating to ensuring that planes can be quickly evacuated in an emergency, many groups, including FlyerRights have argued against that being the sole criterion. Lack of sufficient space, their petition argues, has health as well as comfort issues, including the potential for deep vein thrombosis and intrusion into passengers’ personal space.
Over the years, the average size of American travelers has increased, while both seat pitch and width have shrunk significantly. FlyerRights argues in its petition that “half of adults can no longer reasonably fit in most airline seats,” and calls for a standard that will comfortably accommodate 90 to 92% of adults.
