Passengers have flooded the FAA with complaints about slender seats and scant legroom. From a report: Passengers have been sounding off for years about airline seating — no legroom, skinny cushions, too slender. Now politicians are listening. A invoice launched in Congress final month to replace plane evacuation requirements would compel federal regulators to check seat sizes and spacing. Tito Echeverria, who used to journey regularly as a plant supervisor for a producing firm, has had too many awkward interactions with different squished vacationers. “You find yourself having to persistently rub legs with somebody, regardless that you are not likely making an attempt to,” mentioned Echeverria, 32, from Ontario, Calif. “You are simply freaking there subsequent to them.”
U.S. rules cowl aisle width and the variety of seats allowed on planes, however not minimal seat sizes. The Federal Aviation Administration has mentioned in court docket it is not required to set seat requirements until it finds they’re mandatory to guard passenger security. In late 2019 and early 2020, it simulated emergency evacuations and located seat measurement and spacing did not adversely have an effect on the method. Final 12 months, the FAA sought public suggestions on whether or not seat sizes posed questions of safety, and it obtained an earful. Greater than 26,000 public feedback poured in over a three-month stretch. “Airplane seat sizes are appalling,” one commenter wrote. “They’re constructed for individuals from the ’40s and ’50s. They can’t remotely accommodate an individual over 6 ft or 200 kilos. It is actually painful to fly at this time.”
