Originally Posted by
Loren Pechtel
The problem is that airplanes are engineered for a certain number of seats across. Making them any wider (and that's what fat people need) means omitting a seat. Tickets would be 20% more on a narrow body, 11% more on a widebody.
The 777 and 747 were "engineered" for nine-across seating. The 787 was "engineered" for eight-across seating. The airlines stuffed in an extra seat to squeeze out a little extra revenue, and I'm suggesting that the government should force them, through regulation, to go back to the old configuration.
The extra seat on the wide bodies does add about 11 percent more revenue, but not profit. There are substantial costs involved with serving 11 percent more passengers, so that net revenue gain is much, much less.
At the very least, if airlines are going to be allowed to fly with these super-narrow seats then we need some system that will provide statutory damages to those who suffer seat encroachment from obese flyers. The airlines should be required to provide passengers with a specific procedure to follow when dealing with a seat encroacher, and passengers who are harmed should get automatic and substantial damages of say $10,000 per incident. This will cause the airlines to address the issue.