US court: FAA must reconsider regulating airline seat size

An appeals court panel said Friday that federal officials must reconsider their decision not to regulate the size of airline seats as a safety issue. One of the judges called it "the Case of the Incredible Shrinking Airline Seat." The Flyers Rights passenger group challenged the FAA in court after the agency rejected its request to write rules governing seat size and the distance between rows of seats. Friday, a 3-judge panel for the federal appeals court in Washington said the FAA had relied on outdated or irrelevant tests and studies before deciding that seat spacing was a matter of comfort, not safety. The judges sent the issue back to the FAA. They said the agency must come up with a better-reasoned response to the group's safety concerns. The airline industry has long opposed the regulation of seat size. <br/>