A kick in the seats

Ruling hits airlines

Puny airline seats may not fly anymore.

A federal judge ordered the Federal Aviation Administration on Friday to more deeply investigate what she called “The Case of the Incredible Shrinking Airline Seat.”

FAA officials had argued in the US Court of Appeals in DC that reduced seat sizes and legroom had no impact on how quickly travelers could exit an airplane in an emergency.

But Judge Patricia Millett, one of the court’s three judges, called the agency’s research just plane lazy — and ordered regulators to consider setting minimum seat-size standards.

“That makes no sense,” Millett wrote on behalf of the panel.

She said the study the FAA cited wasn’t in-depth enough and compared it to “a study on tooth decay that only recorded participants’ sugar consumption” but failed to examine brushing and flossing.

“This is the Case of the Incredible Shrinking Airline Seat,” she wrote. “As many have no doubt noticed, aircraft seats and the spacing between them have been getting smaller and smaller, while American passengers shave been growing in size .”

In the last three decades, economyclass seat pitch has decreased from an average of 35 inches in the 1970s to 31 to 28 inches today.

In the past decade, the average seat width shrunk from about 18 inches to 16.5 inches.

In calling for a further review Friday, the court ruled in favor of Flyers Rights, an advocacy nonprofit that claims the shrinking seats and legroom create safety hazards.

It is calling for limits on how tightly airlines can squeeze passengers. The FAA has claimed its current standards for evacuating passengers are adequate.

FAA spokesman Greg Martin said on Friday that the agency does consider seat pitch in setting its standards, but added, “We are studying the ruling carefully and any potential actions we may take to address the court’s findings.”

The court said the FAA used “off-point” studies and “undisclosed tests using unknown parameters” to justify its standards.

“That type of vaporous record will not do,” the court ruled.

Paul Hudson, president of Flyers Rights, hailed the decision.

“We’re really gratified,” he told Bloomberg News. “We hope the FAA will now take it up as a proper rulemaking.”