US senator looks to regulate airline seat-space minimums

A US senator wants to add regulation to the FAA reauthorization bill that would set minimum seat-space requirements for airlines, saying that “rapidly shrinking seat width and leg room” is a health and safety hazard. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-Connecticut) announced he will file an amendment to the reauthorization bill when it’s considered before the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, on which Blumenthal sits. His amendment will require FAA to adopt minimum seat-space standards “to protect the health and safety of passengers.” He is also calling for a moratorium on any further shrinkage in seat space until such standards can be set and for airlines to publicly disclose their seat size to passengers. “[FAA] has not conducted tests to determine if passengers can safely evacuate from today’s increasingly cramped airplane cabins. Medical experts have also raised concerns regarding increased risk for blood clots and pulmonary embolisms due to lack of adequate leg room. There have been increased reports of passenger fights and disturbances triggered by such close quarters,” the senator says in his announcement of the proposed amendment. The move gained support from the US Business Travel Coalition (BTC), which issued a statement saying “some 2m consumers face … either being shoehorned into shrunken personal space or being forced to pay extra for a degree of comfort. The US Department of Transportation (DOT) should organize a study that relates a seat pitch standard to the size of today’s passengers among the traveling population.”<br/>