Last year U. S. senators claimed airlines were shrinking seat width from 19 inches to as little as 16 inches. They asked the FAA to review the safety factors involved. Aviation expert Jay Ratliff. "Since we - as people - are getting bigger and seats are getting smaller, are we able to get off the plane within 90 seconds or less? That's a law - you have to accomplish that in any aircraft that's in service." A major safety concern of airlines is the ability to get passengers out of their seats and off the plane within the time period. Ratliff says the FAA has performed testing but hasn't released the results.
He says with the seats still uncomfortably small --- if the FAA discovers that's a hinderance to getting out quickly - changes will have to be made. In the meantime to make us even unhappier, he says prices will probably go up. "The demand for travel is going to call for it. I think we'll see it quite a bit. And --- I don't this there's anything we as consumers can do about it!" He adds: "We're going to have a lot more people traveling. Fewer flights will be in the air. The numbers are just one of the headaches waiting for us. I don't think it's going to be as bad as we saw in the mask-wearing Covid Lockdown time --- but it's going to get pretty close!"
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Other airline experts say that with possible tighter government regulations about seat size, airlines are squishing as many of us into coach as possible while they can."
Ratliff says as always - shop for good deals, book your flights asap, and pack some patience and good will in your baggage.
photo: Getty
long, slow TSA lines coming this summerPhoto: Getty Images