Travelers have a lot to say about shrinking airplane seats

Top-tier frequent flyer Rick Hubbard spends a lot of time squeezing into airplane seats and has noticed it's a tighter fit. "Either that or I'm getting bigger and bigger, but I don't think so," Hubbard told CNN recently near a baggage claim. "I can't imagine seats or aisles being smaller than they are today." Shrinking personal space in the skies is not imaginary: Experts say airline seats shrunk over the years while Americans grew larger. Airlines are balancing passenger demand for cheap airfare and more legroom. Federal regulators, meanwhile, have focused narrowly on preventing a cabin so cramped that it prevents a rapid emergency evacuation. "Their message to date has been how uncomfortable you are is between you and the air carrier," said Peter Goelz, a CNN safety analyst and former managing director of the NTSB. Under pressure from Congress and passengers, the FAA is now looking into whether seats are too tight to rapidly evacuate. Federal standards require evacuating a plane within 90 seconds of it coming to rest in an emergency, and a 2018 law requires the agency to rule on the minimum safe seat dimensions. The agency opened up the seat size safety issue for comments this fall, and more than 26,000 comments poured in -- many raising concerns beyond evacuation. Commenter John Naughton called "tiny seats terribly uncomfortable." Jill Kenney predicted "less fights ... if people could fit in more comfortably."<br/>