Road Warriors Win The Airlines Battle Of The Bulge
April 16, 2009 by JD
Filed under Health News, News
I have noted in earlier posts that it’s going to start costing obese people real dollars to keep the weight on. Now United Airlines has joined several of the other major carriers in bumping people who can’t fit in the seats from full flights and making them buy an additional ticket if they want to be rescheduled on another flight that’s full. United claims to have received 700 complaints in 2008 from people who were frustrated with having to share a seat with someone spilling over or under the arm rest.
Now, I’ll be the first to admit that, as a former road warrior myself, I used to hate the experience of being crammed into an airplane’s coach section. I’m certainly not obese and even for me those seats are cramped and leave little room for breathing, much less getting comfortable.
I believe that the airlines got together and commissioned a study that determined the optimal seat size that represented a balance between reasonable comfort and maximum capacity. The problem is, this study must have been conducted back in fifties, because seat sizes haven’t changed. And I know people back then were smaller. It was a littler time.
So, maybe it’s time for the airlines to reevaluate the seating design of their aircraft. They certainly have done wonders over the last 10 years to make the business and first class sections the ultimates in travel comfort. They put lounge chairs with mini theater systems, sleep shades, and even beds into some of these premium seating areas.
But as soon as you part that curtain and stare down that narrow aisle in coach, you’ll still see the same cattle car of thinly cushioned sheet metal seats bolted together row after row, like one big flying sardine can.
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