Way back in 2018, Congress told the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to establish minimum dimensions for airplane seats. The timeline was one year, but they have yet to comply.
However, now, according to a report in USA Today, the FAA has announced an advanced notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPR), asking for public comment on the issue.
A 90-day comment period asks for feedback on possible airplane seat size standards. The announcement comes after years of advocacy calling on the FAA to regulate seat sizes on airplanes.
However, in a day and age where not a week goes by without some type of angry passenger incident, it seems egregious not to mandate seat sizes for passengers.
While the agency has conducted airline evacuation tests in an Oklahoma City facility, the issue of seat size has gone far beyond evacuation concerns. While a global pandemic and subsequent mask-wearing has sparked many incidents that have occurred on aircraft recently, they are not completely inspired by the global health crisis. Bad behavior on planes has increased as personal space on aircraft has decreased. People are squished, they are uncomfortable and when that happens, they get angry, and the country is seeing this play out with increased frequency.
Thankfully, many advocates are calling for Congress to push the FAA to quickly establish seat standards, noting the effect that it has on not only evacuation but passenger health and safety.
"Seats have continued to shrink by some airlines, and people are continuing to get larger," Paul Hudson, president of FlyersRights.org told USA Today. "Our estimate is that only 20 percent of the population can reasonably fit in these seats now. It's beyond a matter of comfort, or even emergency evacuation, there are serious health and safety issues when you're put in cramped conditions for hours on end."
Many advocates are also calling for regulations to seat sizes due to the difficulty evacuation poses for disabled passengers, for larger passengers and the fact that more Americans are distracted by devices and bring pets on planes. The evacuation tests conducted by the FAA don't focus on these factors when they are simulated.
Hudson called the tests are "unrealistic."
Of the testing I witnessed, the ones that were in the narrower configurations, they were about 20% slower, but the conclusion of the reports was 'no, it made no difference' ... but they didn't release their data, just their conclusions," he said.
There is no guarantee that there will be any changes, but travelers can make their voices heard by leaving a comment with the FAA.
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