Everyone knows that air travel is the pits these days. Pete Buttigieg is trying to do something about it, but a group of concerned travelers are urging the Biden Administration to go all in.
The former Presidential candidate turned Secretary of Transportation has been hammering the airline industry lately, calling on Delta Airlines (DAL), American Airlines (AAL) and others to make a number of changes, including disclosing all fees ahead of time, offering food and hotel vouchers for people whose flights are canceled or significantly delayed, and Buttigieg has also introduced a proposal forcing the airlines to offer no-hassle refunds to those people when they opt not to take a different flight.
But Secretary Buttigieg has also called upon the public to let the Aviation Consumer Protection Advisory Committee know about any other concerns or suggestions they have concerning air travel.
Along those same lines, the Federal Aviation Administration has been seeking comments concerning the minimize size of airline seats. But a non-profit airline passenger advocacy group called FlyerRights is pushing for the FAA to not take half-measures.
Airline Seats Really Have Been Getting Smaller
Cancellations, flight delays, lost luggage, rising ticket prices and irate passengers are all pretty high up on the list for “reasons why flying stinks at the moment.”
But another big reason why flying is so unappealing is that it’s not just your imagination, airline seats really are smaller than ever, as we recently noted that, as reported by by CBS News, seat pitch, which is the measurement between one seat back and the same spot on the next seat back, has shrunk from 35 inches to nearly 31“ and in some cases as little as 28 inches.” Additionally, seat width has shrunk by four inches in the past 30 years.
This makes for an especially uncomfortable flight for tall people, or passengers with a wider frame, and is the reason why it feels like the person reclining in front of you is precariously close to placing their head in your lap. Flyers Rights estimates that only one in four passengers can fit in airline seats as they are currently situated.
In 2018, Congress told the FAA to “set the minimum standards for seat width and pitch, as part of the 2018 FAA Reauthorization Act,” but this has not yet happened.
Flyers Rights sued the Federal Aviation Administration for what it terms a “failure to establish minimum seat standards mandated by Congress more than three years ago.”
American Airlines
Flyers Rights Has Petitioned The FAA To Do More
The FAA is still open to hearing your thoughts about airline seats, as the agency is two months into a three-month public comment period. Anyone can weigh in on the matter until November 1, right over here.
The FAA said it is looking for opinions “minimum seat dimensions necessary for the safety of air passengers,” as at the moment safety, not comfort, is its main concern.
But Flyers Rights has filed a 26-page rulemaking petition, calling for the FAA to set minimum seat standards “that accommodate 90 to 92% of the population,” as reported by The Points Guy, and has also called for a strict moratorium "on further seat size shrinkage."
An FAA spokesperson told The Points that the petition will be considered under the agency's rulemaking procedures, and that it has six months to decide whether to accept or reject the petition.
Flyers Rights is concerned that the FAA still hasn’t followed through with the 2018 FAA Reauthorization Act, stating that the organization has concerns about customer safety, in the case of evacuation or a case where passengers have to assume a brace position for a crash landing, as well as the part small seats can factor into deep vein thrombosis (DVT) in flyers.
The main reason airline seats have shrunk in recent years is that with high fixed costs, airlines have tried to cram in as many seats as possible, in order to sell more tickets. So if the FAA does make the moves Flyers Rights are asking for, expect the industry to push back.
