FAA must reconsider regulating airline seat size as spacing continues to shrink

Derg said:
I'm fully ok with the consumer being able to freely choose between product and price point.

Or fully re-regulate.

If the federal government dictates that every seat needs 35" of pitch, we need to be prepared to subsidize some routes that will no longer be profitable and accept higher air fares and even more ridiculous levels of value added fees because the margins are very low even with reduced seat pitch. The money will be made up somewhere and I don't think anyone is willing to go to work for free in order to get Skylar, his wife and their four kids to Orlando for super cheap.

Airlines don't go into business to provide transportation to the world. Airlines go into business to make money.

And besides, our generations is far more "fluffy" today than when that 737 tube was designed.
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I'm more fluffy than I was when the 737 was designed.

Would love to be back in regulation days.

Two fares, Y and F

Only differentiation is service and schedule.
 
I think there's a little room for regulation at least in a safety avenue. Aren't these evac demonstrations done by employees?
Just because an airplane full of greased up, half nude rampers and gate agents that can evacuate even the tightest seats in steerage within 90 seconds (while staring at the starting gun and knowing it's about to happen) is hardly representative of the general population's reaction time.
 
Cptnchia said:
Good Lord! Talk about misrepresenting. She was not moved to a smaller seat. She was moved from the emergency exit row aisle seat to the emergency exit row window seat. Literally, 3 seats to the right, IN THE SAME ROW! Nothing changed in the seat pitch. Both seats cost exactly the same.

If you're going to go on a quest, at least tilt with facts, not fake news, Don Quixote.
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I'll own it and apologize as that's what I get for putting any faith in Ann Coulter. I'd read that about her still being in aisle 15, but thought there must've been some reason for her tantrum, but I guess not. Maybe she just wanted back in the headlines and had no problem throwing Delta under the bus, either way I'm wrong to have referenced her for this argument.
 
srn121 said:
We're talking shrinking seats beyond what they were when American Airlines has reported some pretty damned good profitability in 2016 and so far for 2017. The margins you're complaining about were 13.2% last year and over 10%, Any regulation I'd suggest would be to keep American and the mainlines from further following the business model of the ULCCs as they were just proposing 29" seat pitches and settled on 30" seat pitches which is still a reduction over what they've had previously when making enormous profits.

http://financials.morningstar.com/ratios/r.html?t=AAL
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That's cool, but the consumer has more information today, than at any point in human history, and they can decide for themselves.

A lot of non-frequent fliers use places like Orbitz, Expedia and whatever that one with the strange skinny guy with the two-day beard.. Oh, Trivago and you could just as easily lobby the website to include seat pitch into the price grid.

My customers seem pretty satisfied because they're paying, very often, a premium for the product. You're not going to be able to force Allegiant to provide that experience at their current price point (and friends fly free!)
 
bimmerphile said:
I think there's a little room for regulation at least in a safety avenue. Aren't these evac demonstrations done by employees?
Just because an airplane full of greased up, half nude rampers and gate agents that can evacuate even the tightest seats in steerage within 90 seconds (while staring at the starting gun and knowing it's about to happen) is hardly representative of the general population's reaction time.
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You mean, less likely to grab their carry ons and snap "selfies" during the evacuation:

130709155327-asiana-baggage-evacuees-story-top.jpg
 
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Derg said:
That's cool, but the consumer has more information today, than at any point in human history, and they can decide for themselves.

A lot of non-frequent fliers use places like Orbitz, Expedia and whatever that one with the strange skinny guy with the two-day beard.. Oh, Trivago and you could just as easily lobby the website to include seat pitch into the price grid.

My customers seem pretty satisfied because they're paying, very often, a premium for the product. You're not going to be able to force Allegiant to provide that experience at their current price point (and friends fly free!)
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and likely less competition. The public can't run to Northwest, Continental, US Airways, Virgin America and others, because of all the mergers that have been allowed.

Allegiant is in desperate need of regulation. How they get away with their maintenance is beyond me and it's a miracle they haven't had a crash by now when I think of the pilot they fired for declaring an emergency as well as the aborted takeoff where the crew likely saved the lives of many if not all pax on board.
 
I really don't think so.

Pilots continue to apply.

Passengers continue to book seats.

I think what they really need is a better collective bargaining agreement with protections for unpopular, yet safety-centric decision making and a corporate culture which supports that, which the FAA cannot mandate.
 
Derg said:
Passengers continue to book seats.

I think what they really need is a better collective bargaining agreement with protections for unpopular, yet safety-centric decision making and a corporate culture which supports that, which the FAA cannot mandate.
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Allegiant flies to some locations that are totally under-served by the airlines and offers direct flights. If I lived in some of these areas I could easily see the appeal in flying with them rather than driving 4 hours to catch a two legged flight somewhere even if it is a huge gamble. If they weren't so out to nickel and dime their customers and take some unsafe shortcuts I'd probably be one of their biggest fans. Their maintenance and cancellations should improve as they switch to an all Airbus fleet though so they are improving in some rather big ways.
 
srn121 said:
Allegiant flies to some locations that are totally under-served by the airlines and offers direct flights. If I lived in some of these areas I could easily see the appeal in flying with them rather than driving 4 hours to catch a two legged flight somewhere even if it is a huge gamble. If they weren't so out to nickel and dime their customers and take some unsafe shortcuts I'd probably be one of their biggest fans. Their maintenance and cancellations should improve as they switch to an all Airbus fleet though so they are improving in some rather big ways.
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THey have to nickel and dime their customers in those markets.

The reason it's "underserved" isn't that the majors don't own maps, it's because the yield would be low because, like you said, people have the option of driving four hours to an airport with airline service. So the price must be low enough to attract people to fly instead of drive. And then the game begins.

My hometown is like that. People would rather drive four hours to LAX than 5 mins north to Visalia and getting to LAX in 30 minutes. If the price was low enough, of course they'd fly but airliners are in the business to do what? Make money. :)
 
Derg said:
THey have to nickel and dime their customers in those markets.

The reason it's "underserved" isn't that the majors don't own maps, it's because the yield would be low because, like you said, people have the option of driving four hours to an airport with airline service. So the price must be low enough to attract people to fly instead of drive. And then the game begins.

My hometown is like that. People would rather drive four hours to LAX than 5 mins north to Visalia and getting to LAX in 30 minutes. If the price was low enough, of course they'd fly but airliners are in the business to do what? Make money. :)
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SeaPort served it! ;p
 
Romulus said:
I'd like to see the airlines regulate passenger size. I'm tired of buying a seat only to have a blob plop down next to me and take over 15% of my seat. We could make something like the old operation board game. You can't get through the machine without touching the sides and setting off the buzzer you buy two seats.
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honestly, I would MUCH rather sit in a middle seat between a body builder and a land whale than in a no leg room coach seat. I'm 6'4 and the lack of leg room is miserable. Wedged between to big people is just awkward.
 
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