Airliner--MC
A panel of US appeals court judges has ordered U.S. aviation authorities to conduct a new review of what one of them described as "The Case of the Incredible Shrinking Airline Seat." The ruling came yesterday when the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit agreed that the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) must conduct a new review of the request for regulations setting a minimum airline seat size, according to Reuters.
The story jumped out at me because this is a subject I have written about for quite sometime.Airlines go to absurd lengths to commercially exploit every square inch on planes and the bulk of the exploitation falls on the economy class passengers and their seats,
Reuters reported: “Airline seats have steadily decreased in size over the last several decades. Economy-class seat pitch has decreased from an average of 35 inches (89 cm) in the 1970s to 31 inches (79 cm), and in some airplanes to 28 inches (71 cm).
Average seat width has narrowed from about 18 inches (46 cm)to 16.5 inches (42 cm) over the last decade.”
I claim some headstart on the subject since I wrote about it first on March 6, 2011 which bears repeating in light of the court order for a new review. While an advocacy group called the Flyer Rights, which filed the appeal, has approached the subject from a safety standpoint, I have looked at it from a human rights point of view. And with some jest as is my wont.
Here it is:
March 6, 2011
It is time for the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights (UNHCR) to declare economy class air travel as a serious human rights violation. Anyone who has suffered the indignity of spending any time in any economy class seat on any international flight would testify if the U.N. were to hold hearings on this issue.
These seats are unforgivably narrow. They seem to get narrower as the flight progresses. I often get the sense that the two arms on either side of the seat collapse into each other as part of a grand aviation industry conspiracy. The industry just does not like economy class passengers. Pretty soon it will offer only armrests without the seats in between in the economy class.
What makes economy class travel on long haul flights even more harrowing is the seat configuration of 3-4-3. If you end up in the middle—and purely statistically you would end up there several times—then there is absolutely no hope for you. You are better off dead than being caught in the middle seats on a 16-hour flight.
The UNHCR should summon all airline CEOs, put them on a 16-hour nonstop flight, seat them all in the economy class with 3-4-3 configuration and hold hearings for several days. They should be asked just one question for those 16 hours—“Are you comfortable?” I guarantee their answer will get progressively depressing every second of the duration of the flight. By the time the flight lands they would be ready to make all flights mandatory business class flights at the economy fare.
P.S.: I fly out of Ahmedabad tonight to return to Chicago by economy class. I happily admit to resenting the fact that I will never be able to afford business class travel in this lifetime. First class does not even exist in my niggardly universe.
P.P.S. (Added today): Business class travel continues to be out of reach. And first class is like some fabled place on the mountain top which exists only in whispers. I have a new name for my kind of travel—Flying under economy aka Phew!