Petition Calls For Standardization of Seat Size & Pitch
Joe Cortez September 11, 2015
Airplane window against blue sky
Petition to standardize seat size and pitch, created by a flyer advocate website, has collected over 30,000 digital signatures.
A flyer advocacy group is calling on Congress to change the passenger experience in the U.S., starting in the aircraft cabin and working from there. The petition, backed by FlyersRights.org, calls for a new Passenger Bill of Rights to include the standardization of minimum seat sizes and pitches on commercial aircraft.
“We are committed to solutions promoting airline passenger policies that advance the safety of all passengers,” the organization writes in its petition. “While not imposing unrealistic economic burdens that adversely affect airline profitability or create exorbitant ticket price increases.”
The petition calls for a number of changes to the domestic passenger experience, including the standardization of seating across all airlines. It claims the decreasing space between seats has created a situation which could potentially jeopardize passenger safety.
The issue of seat pitch has become a recent issue for passengers in the last year. In 2014, one of America’s legacy carriers was rumored to be considering an “economy minus” class, which would decrease seat pitch to 30 inches. In February 2015, United was rumored to be considering adding additional seats to its fleet of Boeing 777-200 aircraft, creating a 3-5-3 configuration throughout economy.
While the petition has collected over 30,000 signatures, not everyone is a fan of standardizing seating. In a statement to the newspaper, Airlines For America opposed the idea of creating minimum seat size and pitch guidelines.
“We…believe that government should not regulate airline seat sizes,” Jean Medina, spokesperson for the trade group, told the Los Angeles Times. “But instead market forces and competition should determine what is offered.”
In addition to standard seating size, the FlyersRights.org petition calls for a number of additional protections to be written into law. These would potentially include increasing passenger compensation for delayed flights and better airport planning for handling flight delays.
[Photo: iStock]
I don't remember More Room costing more on AA, and I flew them every three months or so (and sometimes more frequently), transatlantic to LGW and LHR out of both DFW and RDU, during the time they offered that in the early 2000s. It was a feature; you weren't charged extra. And yes, there were full aircraft - I flew on many of them.
Whaaa? The FAA _does_ regulate seat pitch. Aircraft have to be able to be evacuated in a certain maximum time. If the seat pitch is so tight that people can't get out to evacuate, the aircraft configuration will fail. This isn't about safety, it's about comfort, and I'd much rather have a situation where consumers get to decide how to make the cost/comfort tradeoff than have the gov't mandate it. Want really cheap tix, and don't care about legroom? Fly Spirit. Want more legroom? Fly a major. Want even more? Buy Comfort Plus/Economy Comfort/etc. Want even more? Buy first.
This is beyond naive. Deregulation brought about competition and cheap fares. There are people who want absolutely dirt cheap fares and the sacrifices in comfort and service that those fares cause. When the airlines tried to offer bigger seats at slightly higher prices, the public would not buy the seats. Remember American offering "More Room Throughout Coach". It cost a few bucks more and there were no takers. So the low fare crowd has dictated the product that is offered. Better products don't sell well. Want a bigger seat? What to check bags for free? Want a nice meal? Then PAY FOR IT. Airlines give you that option in business class and first. But don't expect to pay rock bottom and get treated as if you bought first class. And if you think an airline squeezes the seats too tightly together, fly another airline. The last thing we want is government regulation. We lived with that system for years and fares were sky high. The exquisite sense of entitlement reflected in the other comments is tragic. People who don't want to pay for better service....they just expect that it will come for free. I too would like a Porsche for the price of Kia.
This isn't not about flying in a business class seat, it's about being able to sit a seat, that is comfortable. Does America seriously need the government to regulate seat comfort? Are Americans too dimwitted to vote with their dollars, which is after all, how this free-market thing is supposed to work. Easy answer: don't like an airline's seats, don't pay to fly them!
3-5-3 on a 777? Not a chance of that.