Do you ever feel as if plane seats are getting increasingly uncomfortable and decreasingly spacious? You may put it down to that bit of extra of weight you’re carrying, or older bones feeling the strain of air flight, making you suffer more than you ever used to while in the air. However, this is probably not the case. It’s them and not you, or in other words, airline seats really have got smaller and leg room has certainly been reduced over the years.
Of course it’s all about profits
It’s no surprise that the reduction of comfort is to increase profits for the airlines. The more seats you can cram into your planes, the more tickets you can sell, it’s pretty obvious really. Extra rows and more seats per row make sense economically, but it is at the expense of a comfortable journey for all but the smallest of passengers. When Boeing launched the 737 back in the 1960s it seated between 50 and 60 passengers. Now the 700 series has 137 seats!
Just how much have seats shrunk?
Over recent years the average plane seat pitch has shrunk from 35 inches down to 31, and the width from 18 to 17 inches, and there are plenty of airlines with seats much smaller than this.
We know it’s uncomfortable, but is it safe?
Feeling cramped on your flight is one thing, but are the seats now getting so close together they are actually potentially unsafe? While we might suffer a short haul flight on a budget airline with tiny seats because we’ve grabbed ourselves a bargain, no one wants to put their safety, and that of their families at risk.
A passenger group known as Flyers Rights recently challenged the Federal Aviation Administration after they rejected a proposal for rules to be set out regarding seat size and seat row distances. Flyers Rights believe that when seats are too small, and too close together it poses several safety issues including slowing down of an evacuation and an increased risk of blood clots.
Is the situation set to get worse?
It seems that several airlines are still looking at how to pack more sardines, sorry, customers onto their planes with Airbus looking into a 16.7 inch seat in economy with a 3-6-3 configuration. For anyone sat in the middle seats, simply getting out to visit the lavatory is going to be quite an ordeal!
Emily is an avid writer with a passion for the travel industry. She also loves learning and writing about nutrition and healthy living. Emily is based in the UK.
