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The 'Incredible Shrinking Airline Seat' Gets a U.S. Court Rebuke
If you think the government should do something about the cramped legroom on airplanes, you've got a friend in a federal court.
The U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., on Friday ordered aviation regulators to consider setting minimum standards for the space airlines give passengers.
"This is the Case of the Incredible Shrinking Airline Seat," Judge Patricia Ann Millett wrote on behalf of the three-judge panel. "As many have no doubt noticed, aircraft seats and the spacing between them have been getting smaller and smaller, while American passengers have been growing in size."
The court found in favor of Flyers Rights, a nonprofit advocacy group, which had argued that steadily shrinking legroom and seat size created a safety hazard and the Federal Aviation Administration should impose new restrictions.
Additional coverage at Reuters and CNN
Opinion for the Court filed by Circuit Judge MILLETT.
(Score: 2) by opinionated_science on Monday July 31 2017, @12:33PM (1 child)
I get told to remove the headphones for the announcement. We're not allowed to use tablets then either. Seems pretty standard on UK->Europe flights.
Ah, speaking of the USA. Your local conditions may vary...
On seatbelts the flap design can be opened with low manual or other limb dexterity. Buttons would be impossible, especially for large passengers.
I'm slightly taller, but again here in the USA there may be different spacing. Only a few planes are near my knees, and I suspect the inflight magazine may account for some of that...!!
Biz class has massive recline (of course), but it's not that much recline to feel comfortable.
I'll wager they had scientists find that extract transition...!
(Score: 2) by urza9814 on Wednesday August 02 2017, @01:23AM
Every flight I've ever flown within the USA I've also been forced to remove headphones and disable electronics during the safety announcements. I don't doubt that you can get away with it, they won't necessarily see a small pair of earbuds twenty rows back (or they just don't care), but the FAA does recommend airlines prohibit the use of electronics (or even books or newspapers) during the safety briefing, and IME most airlines do enforce that.