Why are airline seats so small?
Pamela Vetter deals with small airline seats like a lot of passengers: she pretends they don't exist.
"I have a fully charged phone, and I just watch a movie," says Vetter, the vice president of a networking organization in Los Angeles. "I immerse myself in it to distract me from the small seats."
But lately, it's been getting harder to make believe small airline seats aren't a problem. On her recent flight from Chicago to LA, the economy seats felt narrower and offered less legroom than ever.
"My knees nearly touched the seat in front of me," she recalls. "Then, when the person in front of me reclined, it got even worse, so it was challenging to lower my tray table when the flight attendants offered us drinks."
She's right. Planes don't just feel more cramped than ever — they are more cramped. There's also a growing realization that small seats pose a real threat to our health and safety. And while there are ways to beat the system, the ultimate fix isn't up to passengers.
Why are airline seats getting smaller?
Only 25 percent of airline passengers can now reasonably fit in seats, according to FlyersRights, a nonprofit organization that closely tracks airline seat sizes.
"Airlines continue to shrink passenger space to force more people to pay more to upgrade to more legroom or larger seats," says Paul Hudson, president of FlyersRights.
But why are the seats tighter than ever? There's one obvious explanation: Back in 2022, Congress asked the Federal Aviation Administration to set a minimum seat size, but that didn't happen. Airlines interpreted that as a license to squeeze their seats closer together — and so they did.
Is there a solution? Yes, but it won't be easy.
The flight that changed everything for me
We could have a polite discussion about shrinking seat sizes, but instead, let me tell you a story about a trip that brought this problem into sharp focus for me.
I recently flew from Helsinki to Copenhagen. As I boarded the aircraft, I noticed the uncomfortably thin and narrow seats. Like Vetter, after sitting down I could feel the seat in front of me pushing against my knees. There was no room to lean back. Then I saw the passenger behind me struggling to fit into his seat.
I turned and saw him protruding into the aisle.
I felt sorry for the traveler and for the guy next to him. I also empathized with the passengers who had to squeeze around this traveler when they tried to access the lavatory.
And clearly, there were some safety issues here — a lot of safety issues.
Imagine if we had to evacuate the plane? Would he have been able to make it to the exit? Would he have blocked other passengers from getting out of the plane?
That flight changed the way I feel about seat size. Small seats are a safety hazard and it's just a matter of time before people die.
Source: Elliott Confidential <chriselliotts@substack.com>
|
|
|
|
