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Shrinking airline seats
The Federal Aviation Administration is considering new safety standards, including seating dimensions.
NEW YORK - If you've taken a flight recently, you might have noticed even less legroom and elbowroom. That's because airlines are shrinking seats in an effort to fit more people onto planes.
That could soon change. The Federal Aviation Administration is considering new safety standards, including seating dimensions.
Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) is urging New Yorkers to make their voices heard and demand more room on their next flight.
"I'm here to alert the public that the ghost of shrinking airline seats is back," Schumer said.
A few years ago, airline customers had 35 inches of legroom. That's down to 31 inches. The width of the seat shrunk from 18.5 inches to 17. And the room between your seat and the one in front of you was cut by half a foot.
Pauline Frommer, the co-president of FrommerMedia, said this is all about profits for the airlines.
"They want to jam as many people into as small a space as possible," Frommer said. "But right now, the airlines are making record profits so they don't have my sympathy."
Right now, the FAA has no minimum size for seats, so airlines can make the cabins as cramped as they want. Frommer said the FAA can't dictate how comfortable customers are but can determine if seats are too small for people to be able to evacuate quickly in the case of an emergency.
Schumer said he hears these complaints constantly and is urging New Yorkers to send their comments to the FAA.
"We vanquished this specter before and held the airlines back in many ways," he said. "But we've got to do it again."
Since opening up public comment on Aug. 3, the FAA has received nearly 13,000 comments. Flyers have until Nov. 1 to submit comments here.