Economy Seats on Airlines in the US are wide enough

by: Juergen T Steinmetz |

American Travelers can continue to book economy seats on US-based airlines. A US Federal Appeals court confirmed seats are comfortable and wide enough for fat travelers.

It’s unclear how big or small the judges of this Appeals court panel of three were who ruled on this concern against the many travelers that voiced concerns through Flyers Rights.

On Friday, a three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit denied FlyersRights mandamus petition seeking to compel the FAA to enact the minimum seat size provision of the 2018 FAA Reauthorization Act. Section 577 of the 2018 FAA Reauthorization Act states that the FAA “shall issue regulations that establish minimum dimensions for passenger seats…including minimums for seat pitch, width, and length, and that are necessary for the safety of passengers.”

FlyersRights.org filed this mandamus petition to compel the rulemaking after more than two years had passed since Congress’ 2019 deadline for this rulemaking. The appeals court agreed with the FAA’s contention that the statute is optional if it believes that seat standards are not currently necessary to ensure passenger safety.

President of FlyersRights.org, Paul Hudson, explained, “The decision is unfortunate and disappointing. The court substituted ‘if’ for the word ‘and’ in the statute requiring minimum seat size standards by October 2019. The law does not say that the FAA can ignore the statutory command if the FAA feels current seats do not pose a health or safety threat. Less than half of people can fit in economy seats without encroaching on their neighbor or suffering serious health risks.”

Hudson continued, “Congress made it clear that minimum seat standards are needed now. The FAA used a narrow definition of safety that included emergency evacuations but excluded passenger health, crash safety, and personal privacy.”

FlyersRights.org filed the mandamus petition in January 2022, requesting the court to set a deadline for the FAA’s minimum seat size rulemaking. The FAA previously denied a 2015 FlyersRights.org rulemaking twice, in 2016 and 2018, claiming that seat size did not affect emergency evacuation times. In 2017, the D.C. Circuit reprimanded the FAA for relying on secret data to reach its conclusion that seat size does not and would not matter for emergency evacuations. In 2021, the DOT Inspector General found that the FAA had used inaccurate information in its 2018 denial of FlyersRights.org’s rulemaking petition on remand, falsely claiming that the secret evacuation tests conducted by airplane manufacturers had tested for shrunken seats, when in fact, only one test was conducted at 28 inches or lower.

On October 5 2022, FlyersRights submitted an updated rulemaking petition calling for seat standards that allow 90% of the public to safely fit in airline seats rather than the current 50%. The FAA’s request for comments on the effect of seat sizes on emergency evacuations garnered more than 26,000 comments within three months.

To view FlyersRights.org’s minimum seat standards rulemaking petition, visit https://flyersrights.org/f/flyersrights-files-minimum-seat-rulemaking-with-the-faa 

To view the DOT Office of Inspector General Report, visit https://www.oig.dot.gov/sites/default/files/FAA%20Oversight%20of%20Aircraft%20Evacuations%20Final%20Report%20-%2009-16-20.pdf 

To view the FAA’s request for comments on the effect of seat size on emergency evacuation, visit https://www.regulations.gov/document/FAA-2022-1001-0001 

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