Shrinking seats: Senate beats back effort to regulate airline seat size

[Eugene]

Source: Washington Post

Shrinking seats: Senate beats back effort to regulate airline seat size

By Ashley Halsey III April 7 at 3:43 PM

The battle over the shrinking airline seat was renewed on Capitol Hill Thursday as the Senate struck down an effort to end the leg and knee squeeze.

By a 54-to-43 vote on the Senate floor, a measure was defeated that would have kept airlines from reducing seat size and the distance between rows for 30 days. Meantime, the Federal Aviation Administration would have had 180 days to come up with regulations on the width, padding and leg room each seat should provide. The measure, proposed as an amendment to an FAA reauthorization the Senate is considering, also would have required airlines to prominently display on their websites just how much space they allowed for each passenger.

The 1.7 million Americans who fly within the United States each day have gotten bigger. Almost 79 million Americans are obese — 35 percent of the population — and the number is projected to reach 50 percent by 2030.

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Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/dr-gridlock/wp/2016/04/07/shrinking-seats-senate-beats-back-effort-to-regulate-airline-seat-size/

[HassleCat]

1. That's why they have lobbyists.

But remember, the money they contribute has no effect on how your legislators vote. They say their votes are unaffected by bri... excuse me... contributions, and you can't prove otherwise.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

2. Why bring up obesity? That may exacerbate things but the issue is the seating is being made smaller.

You could be average height and rail thin but no leg room is no leg room.

[katmondoo]

3. This is one reason I will never fly again

Very limiting but I only travel if there is a train to my destination. Also got sick after the last two times I flew