A bipartisan crusade to get airline passengers a little more legroom continued last week with the reintroduction of the Seat Egress in Air Travel (SEAT) Act in the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate. The act was first introduced in 2016 as an amendment to the FAA Reauthorization bill; however, Congress failed to pass it.
FAA Faces Renewed Pressure to Stop the Shrinking of Seat Sizes on Commercial Airplanes
Key Takeaways:
- A bipartisan SEAT Act has been reintroduced in Congress to mandate minimum airline seat sizes, arguing it's crucial for passenger safety (emergency evacuation, health risks) and comfort, against shrinking legroom and increasing airline profits.
- The FAA, however, defends its current policy, which allows airlines to configure seats as long as a 90-second evacuation is possible, claiming seat size doesn't threaten safety.
- This stance is being challenged in a U.S. Court of Appeals by the Flyers Rights group, who sued the FAA after their petition for seat size standards was denied.
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