Lawmakers plan to resurrect legislation to establish mandatory minimum seat sizes on commercial flights with another attempt at passing the Seat Egress in Air Travel (SEAT) Act.
House Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee member Rep. Steve Cohen and Rep. Adam Kinzinger have also called for minimum seat pitch to ‘protect the safety and health of airline passengers.’
The two Congressmen introduced the SEAT Act as an amendment to the FAA Reauthorization bill last year which is set to expire on September 30, 2017.
"As millions of Americans take to the skies this week for the holiday season, it is a reminder of our obligation to ensure air travel is safe for passengers. The time to examine the safety implications of smaller airplane seats is now, not after some future tragedy. Planes need to be capable of rapid evacuation in case of emergency, yet appropriate testing has not been conducted by the FAA on all of today’s smaller seats," said Congressman Cohen in a release.
"In addition, doctors have warned that deep vein thrombosis can afflict passengers who don’t move their legs during longer flights. The safety and health of passengers must come first. That is why Congressman Kinzinger and I will be reintroducing the SEAT Act early next year during the new Congress.’
Average pitch between rows of seats has gone down from 35 inches since in the 1970s to about 31 inches while seat width has shrunk about 10% to 16 ½ inches, the Congressman says.
