The maths has seemed obvious for some time: shrinking airline seats plus expanding waistlines equals multiplying complaints and eventual government intervention.
Judges have now ruled that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the United States regulatory agency, must take steps to “adequately address” concerns over ever-diminishing legroom on flights because it represents a health hazard.
Citing evidence that smaller seats are linked to an increased likelihood of blood clots, the federal judges of the DC Circuit Appeals Court said that the FAA was wrong to ignore a petition submitted by an activist group, Flyers Rights, asking the agency to set standard seat sizes.
“Congress has charged the Federal Aviation Administration with ensuring the safety and security of commercial airline passengers,” the judges wrote. “In fulfilling that role, the administration has plenary authority to make and enforce safety regulations governing the design and operation of civil aircraft.”
Though it is unclear what steps the FAA will take, the decision may be a victory for passengers who have become packed into seats that have shrunk from an average 35in between rows to about 31in over the past decade.
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The three major US airlines, American, Delta and United, have been the most aggressive at tightly packing their customers, with seats as narrow as 17in and legroom as cramped as 30in.
Meanwhile, Americans have grown in height and girth.The average American man now weighs 14st, two stones more than in 1960, and the average woman is nearly 12st.
The court said these factors meant it would be harder for passengers to leave in an emergency, and also risked more deep vein thrombosis, a clotting condition. In response, travellers have devised creative and at times passive- aggressive solutions, from “knee defenders” that prevent fellow passengers from reclining to websites that analyse seat comfort.
“We hope the FAA will now take it up as a proper rulemaking,” Paul Hudson, the president of Flyers Rights, said. The ruling was “a very rare reprimand” for the airline industry, he added.