The Price Of Comfortable Airplane Seating Is Constant Vigilance. It Will Probably Cost More Cash Too.

Now seating 600.

Some people watch unboxing videos for a bit of rest and relaxation. Others who can afford to do more than window shop might take a window seat on a flight to somewhere far (enough) from the usual workplace drama. Few things beat Spirit or Frontier for flying on the cheap. An often occurring consequence of the big savings these carriers offer are the small spaces you get crammed in from A to B. Thankfully, a flyer advocacy group is putting in the work to save our leg spaces from the fact that the seat sizes are about as tightly regulated as Supreme Court justices.

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A U.S. appeals court on Monday heard arguments from a flyer advocacy group urging it to order the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to set minimum seat dimensions on passenger airplanes.

Now, if you know any people who make the most out of their frequent flyer miles, you know they don’t play around when it comes to making the most of their air time, and comfort is king.

Regulations are important when it comes to mitigating the sardine canification that is associated with low-cost flights. While standing room only, ultra-low fare flights are currently the stuff of April Fools’ jokes, those in the know have already noticed significant reductions in the seating room of low-cost carriers.

Seat pitch – the distance from one seat back to the next – on low-cost carriers Spirit Airlines (SAVE.N) and Frontier Airlines (ULCC.O) is among the industry’s tightest at 28 inches (71 cm) in coach class. The average for other mainline economy seats is around 30 to 31 inches.

…

FlyersRights says U.S. airline seat pitch has shrunk by 3 to 7 inches since 1970 while seat width has decreased by over an inch.

It may have been more than just paranoia telling you that you had less leg room on the flight back. Hopefully the flight advocacy group will be able to push for saving our leg room. If push ultimately comes to shoved together, you may want to look into flying American.

U.S. Court Hears Challenge To Lack Of Rules On Airplane Seat Size [Reuters]

Chris Williams became a social media manager and assistant editor for Above the Law in June 2021. Prior to joining the staff, he moonlighted as a minor Memelord™ in the Facebook group Law School Memes for Edgy T14s.  He endured Missouri long enough to graduate from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. He is a former boatbuilder who cannot swim, a published author on critical race theory, philosophy, and humor, and has a love for cycling that occasionally annoys his peers. You can reach him by email at cwilliams@abovethelaw.com and by tweet at @WritesForRent.