Senate declines to delve into airline legroom
WASHINGTON – The Senate rejected a proposal Thursday to prevent airlines from reducing the size of their seats anymore and to have the Federal Aviation Administration set a standard for a minimum seat size.
The Senate voted 42-54 to reject the proposal from Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., as part of legislation governing the FAA. The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee rejected a similar proposal in February for that chamber’s version of FAA legislation.
Schumer has complained that the average distance between airline seats shrank from 35 inches in the 1970s to 31 inches today. The seat widths also narrowed from 18.5 inches during the 1990s to 17 inches today.
Schumer said his proposal wouldn’t have dictated the size or distance between seats, but would have prevented the airlines from reducing them further until the FAA set a minimum standard. The provision also would have required airlines to post their seat sizes on their web sites, so travelers could know what they were paying for, he said.
“This amendment would ensure that airlines can’t keep chopping down on seat size and legroom until consumers are packed in like sardines in a can on every flight,” Schumer said. “Flying is not pleasant any more. You’re crammed in.”
The provision provoked little debate on the Senate floor. But airlines have argued that seating is part of how they compete, after Congress deregulated the industry in 1978, and the government has no business regulating seating now.