While there is much posturing, harrumphing, and election-year grandstanding going on about a certain Supreme Court seat this week, I think it’s important to note that Congress is also about to be involved in another seat of interest. And while it doesn’t have nearly the power of a tall black leather one, it is one that perhaps affects many more of We the People directly and regularly than a newly ensconced Justice. I speak, of course, of the magically shrinking airplane seat.

You may have noticed that over the course of, say, the last couple of decades, the average space allotted to individuals taking to the friendly skies has been steadily reduced to an amount of square inches that now only a typical five-year-old could possibly find remotely adequate and comfortable. (And even the five-year-old has trouble when the seat in front is reclined more than a centimeter.)

During the space disappearing act, Americans, as a whole, have expanded. One report showed the average U.S. man is currently about 5’9” tall, and he weighs almost 196 pounds. That’s about an average of 15 pounds more of usually unattractive bulk than 20 years ago. Women actually fare a little worse. Average height is 5’3” with 168 pounds spread out (sometimes not so evenly) over that frame. That’s 16 pounds more than two decades ago.  We are definitely not getting smaller. (Did you just suck in your stomach while reading this paragraph?)

I would hazard a guess that many more passengers are having to request those seatbelt extenders in order to follow the buckle-up instructions lovingly presented before each flight. And virtually no one simply squeezes into a seat anymore. It’s more of a shoehorn effect.

It seems the room allotted between rows on a commercial airliner used to be 34 or 35 inches. Now, it’s less than 30 inches on some planes. And you can’t tell me the width of the seat hasn’t shrunk as well. So, let’s see. People are getting beefier, seats are getting skinnier. What geniuses in the airline industry think that makes any sense? Wait a minute. I know, I know! That would be the accounting department. Smaller seats and tighter knee spaces allow for additional rows of revenue-producing rear ends to be accommodated.

Bean counters making customer service decisions is kin to furniture engineers designing easy, simple, “how-to-put-together” bookcase instructions for the common man. It looks great on paper. In real life, not so much.

There are those who refer to the newest confining insides of jets as cattle cars. I think that slanders the cows. There seems to be more room in one of those beef-toting semi trucks seen on the highway than for passengers on a flight across country.

The airlines make no bones about the smaller seats. They know you have to get to Dallas by noon, so you can either complain and live with it or fork over much more dinero to sit in the front of the plane in what is close to what a normal size seat used to be. One carrier went so far as to offer Coach “Comfort” seats that provide a smidgen more of extra room. Doesn’t the very notion of a “Comfort” seat imply that all of the others are uncomfortable?

To add insult to injury, many airlines just announced they were raising the fee to check a bag on a trip. If you have two bags that won’t fit in the overhead compartment, it will cost you about $75 dollars each way on your trip. That’s an extra $150 added to the price of your ticket. If that trend continues, there will undoubtedly come a time when an airline runs a special fare that will require you to pay more for your luggage to fly than you. Of course, your luggage will get more room than you, but that’s beside the point.

No doubt with Congress taking up the cause to require bigger seats, our traveling problems will soon be solved. Rapidly. Isn’t that the way our representatives always work?

Actually, since most Congressional members fly quite a bit, they might really do something positive about the problem. If you take a look, there are definitely some denizens of the Capitol that don’t miss many meals (especially when a lobbyist is paying for them). And none really want to be seen flying first class since they’re all just common folk like we back home. Maybe having a pinched posterior enough times will spur them to action to give us back our space. That would be a supreme bit of news we could all cheer about.

 

©MMXVIII. William J. Lewis, III  –  Freelance Writer