Airline seats keep shrinking

Airlines have been trying to squeeze every millimeter of profit out of the expensive industry and now passengers are starting to feel the pinch.

Airlines have been trying to squeeze every millimeter of profit out of the expensive industry and now passengers are starting to feel the pinch.

A comfortable amount of legroom and reclining seats may well become a thing of the past since those are seen as easy revenue areas.

Spirit and Southwest airlines are just two such companies who are doing whatever they can to make the most of every piece of space that they have.

Spirit Airlines now gives coach passengers the least amount of room, after installing seats that measured to have just 28 inches per person.

As a result, the airline fits 178 people on their Airbus A320 planes rather than the general standard of 150.

One of the ways that they were able to accomplish such a feat was by taking away passengers ability to move their seats back on their own accord.

Instead, Spirit’s coach seats are unmoveable, set permanently to lean three inches back.

Airline representatives are trying to sell this as a benefit for the flyer, however.

‘Customers appreciate the fact that there is no longer interference from the seat in front of you moving up and down throughout the flight,’ Spirit spokeswoman Misty Pinson told The New York Times.

Southwest may not have taken away that freedom from its passengers quite yet, but they are limiting their options as they designed new chairs that only allow them to go two inches back rather than the previously-standard three.

The ‘slim line’ chairs are constructed in a way, using lighter materials and a different design, that helps the company put more seats in the cabin.

While passengers may not enjoy the change, company higher-ups are seeing the change as that simple design change equates to an additional $200million in annual revenue from tickets sold in those extra seats.

Airlines are not the only ones causing problems by shrinking their seats, as part of the blame lies with the passengers themselves.

The Centers for Disease Control reports that over the past 40 years Americans’ waistlines have expanded by 2.5 inches and the average person is heavier by more than 20 pounds.

Rather than make the seating space larger to accommodate that physical transformation, airlines are making their offerings smaller.

About the author

Avatar of Linda Hohnholz

Linda Hohnholz

Editor in chief for eTurboNews based in the eTN HQ.

Share to...