US: Congressman proposes law to limit shrinking airline seats

Attempting something that's never been done before, Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tennessee, has proposed establishing mandatory federal minimum size standards for airline passenger seats. "This issue, in my opinion is a microcosm of what the public is showing for Bernie Sanders and for Donald Trump," Cohen told CNN on Wednesday. "It's about an industry not being responsive to people and being responsive to special interests." Narrower seats and seat pitches have helped airlines fit more seats on planes to allow overall lower fares and higher profit margins. Cohen claims that seat width "has shrunk from 18 inches in the 1970s to about 16.5 inches today." Meanwhile, American bodies have widened. In 1962, the U.S. government measured the width of the American backside in the seated position. It averaged 14 inches for men and 14.4 inches for women. A 2002 Air Force study showed male and female butts had blown up on average to more than 15 inches. Then there's seat "pitch" -- the distance between any point on one seat to the same point on the seat in front. Cohen says pitch has shrunk from "35 inches during the 1970s to about 31 inches today." But Cohen isn't selling his bill on comfort. He's selling it on safety.<br/>