Think your last air flight was uncomfortable? In the future, you may look back on it as luxurious.
According to the Daily News, airlines are looking to even more ways to squeezing more passengers on an airplane in order to increase profits. These include a Standing-Room-Only section (currently being pitched by Airbus), where passengers would be propped against a padded backboard, held in place with a harness, according to experts who have seen a proposal. Is this legal? The Federal Aviation Administration does not mandate that a passenger be in a sitting position for takeoffs and landings; only that the passenger is secured. Seats must only comply with the agency’s rules on the width of aisles and the ability to evacuate quickly in an emergency.
What about those of us who sit? The airlines have been quietly increasing density for years. Carriers have been slipping another row or two of seats into coach by exploiting stronger, lighter materials developed by seat manufacturers that allow for slimmer seat backs. The thinner seats theoretically could be used to give passengers more legroom but, in practice, the airlines have been keeping the amount of space between rows the same to accommodate additional rows. The result is an additional six seats on a typical Boeing 737 for a total of 156, and as many as 12 new seats on a Boeing 757 for a total of 200.
It does give the phrase “cattle car” new meaning, and makes one long for the days of cross-country trains, where there was room to move around.
