The Federal Aviation Administration wanted to hear whether the public thought seat sizes on airlines posed a potential safety issue. Many people took the opportunity to complain about comfort.
The FAA got more than 25,000 comments over a 90-day period that ended Tuesday. Some commenters accused airlines of discrimination against people who may not comfortably fit in passenger seats. Others said compact passenger seats are already difficult to get in and out of even when there isn’t an emergency.
The...
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The Federal Aviation Administration wanted to hear whether the public thought seat sizes on airlines posed a potential safety issue. Many people took the opportunity to complain about comfort.
The FAA got more than 25,000 comments over a 90-day period that ended Tuesday. Some commenters accused airlines of discrimination against people who may not comfortably fit in passenger seats. Others said compact passenger seats are already difficult to get in and out of even when there isn’t an emergency.
The input—which included comments from individuals, stakeholders, organizations and advocacy groups—showcased continuing concerns and familiar complaints about airline seat sizes. They touched not just on passenger safety issues, but also on challenges faced by taller or larger people who struggle to fit into seats on flights.
“I am 6’3″ tall and 240lbs. I am not handicapped but I CANNOT comfortably sit in one of the current dimension seats,” one commenter wrote. “I shouldn’t be in pain because I am stuck in a undersized seat.”
Another commenter put it more simply: “Please please please please please widen seats.”
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A spokesperson for the FAA said the agency will review “all applicable comments.”
“Our review has no set timeframe,” the spokesperson said.
The federal agency asked the public over the summer to comment on whether airline passenger seat sizes were safe for evacuation in case of an emergency, such as a fire. The request stems from a 2018 law tasking the agency with establishing minimum seat sizes “necessary for the safety of passengers.”
The agency pointed commenters to a March 2022 report it conducted examining aircraft cabin evacuations. In letters to lawmakers detailing the report’s findings, former FAA Administrator Steve Dickson
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wrote “seat size and spacing did not adversely affect the success of emergency evacuations.”
Airlines for America, a trade group representing airlines including Alaska Air Group, Inc. , American Airlines Group, Inc. , Delta Air Lines, Inc. , and JetBlue Airways Corp. , said in its comments that airlines respectfully disagreed that the FAA is required to establish a minimum seat size.
“The FAA should rely on its comprehensive studies and data which affirm that the minimum seat size dimensions are safe,” the group said in its comments.
A number of groups, lawmakers and other people disagreed.
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FlyersRights.org, a traveler’s rights group, has been fighting shrinking airline seats for years. The group filed its latest rule-making petition to the FAA in October, citing ergonomic, medical and safety studies. The group is asking the FAA to create minimum seat standards that would fit between 90% and 92% of people—making a minimum seat pitch of 32 inches and width of 20 inches—and allow for safe evacuations in potential emergencies.
Several Democratic senators, including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, urged the FAA on Tuesday to issue a moratorium that would keep airlines from reducing seat sizes any further. Seat pitches—which measure the space between one seat and the seat in front of it—have shrunk since the 1990s from 32 inches to 28 inches, their letter said. And seat width has decreased from 19 inches to as low as 16 inches in some cases.
The senators said a study cited by the FAA “failed to fully investigate health and safety risks” and didn’t capture everyone who could fly, as participants in the study were able-bodied and between the ages of 18 and 64 years old.
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“Without input from these critical communities, the FAA cannot be sure of the impact of seat size on egress during an emergency evacuation, much less on passenger health and safety,” the senators said in their comments.
The FAA didn’t respond Wednesday to requests for comment about the senators’ letter. In March, Mr. Dickson said the agency’s simulated emergency evacuations used adults fitting profiles “consistent with regulatory and ethical standards for human testing.”
“As a result, they provide useful, but not necessarily definitive information, regarding the effects of seat dimensions on safe evacuations for all populations,” Mr. Dickson wrote.
Write to Jennifer Calfas at jennifer.calfas@wsj.com