PACKED IN LIKE SARDINES Senator wants government to set airline seat size rules

Posted on 02/29/2016

Last week the US Congress defeated an amendment addressing shrinking legroom for airline passengers. The amendment would have required the federal government to determine if a minimum dimension for commercial airline seats was in order. Now, Sen. Charles Schumer wants to require the FAA to establish seat-size standards for commercial airlines, which he says now force passengers to sit on planes “like sardines.''

The amendment proposed by Congressman Steve Cohen (D-TN) had argued that emergency evacuation regulations do not take into account shrinking seat sizes and reduced pitches. The debate was treated lightly with representatives making jokes about measuring seats. New York Democrat Schumer took a different approach, telling The Associated Press that airlines have been slowly cutting down legroom and seat width.“One of the most vexing things when you travel on an airplane is there's almost no legroom on your standard flight,'' Schumer said. “There's been constant shrinkage by the airlines.''He said he will add an amendment to the FAA Reauthorization Bill that is pending before Congress that would require the agency to set the seat-size guidelines. Schumer said the average distance between rows of seats has dropped from 35 inches in the 1970s to a current average of about 16.5 inches. He argues that the requirement is needed to stop airlines from shrinking seats and seat pitch, the distance between rows of seats on airplanes, even further.“They're like sardines,'' Schumer said of airplane passengers. “It's no secret that airlines are looking for more ways to cut costs, but they shouldn't be cutting inches of legroom and seat width in the process ... It's time for the FAA to step up and stop this deep-seated problem from continuing.''Currently, there are no federal limits on how close an airline's row of seats can be or how wide an airline's seat must be.Schumer pointed to a practice used by some airlines in which passengers are charged more money for seats with extra legroom. He says that “exemplifies'' the problem.“It's just plain unfair that a person gets charged for extra inches that were once standard,'' he said.The FAA Reauthorization Bill is considered “must-pass'' legislation, Schumer said. Congress typically renews the FAA's authorization every four to six years, using the bill as an opportunity to address a wide range of aviation issues. A vote is expected in March.Neither the FAA nor Airlines for America, an industry trade group that represents US airlines, had any immediate comment on Schumer's proposal.