Congress wants to regulate the airline seat space

A bill to fund the Federal Aviation Administration is expected to be voted on by Congress this week, and includes new consumer protection measures for passengers, including the regulation of airline seats. whatever the fees they want.

A joint committee of the House and Senate approved this week end a compromise version of the 1,200-page bill. In its deliberations, the committee removed a provision that would have directed the transportation service to ensure that the charges imposed by the airlines are "reasonable" and related to the costs of providing the service ($ 200 irritant charges). modify reservations.)

Compromise legislation requires that the FAA – which has air safety jurisdiction – establish new rules for airline headquarters. The agency will have to define minimum dimensions for the seats, including the width and clearance of the legs, ie the seat pitch (the distance between the rows of seats). The decision to determine exactly what the size of airline seats is at the discretion of the FAA, and it is unclear how long it could take or how long the agency could allow airlines to meet the news. standards.

But do not think that your knees will find relief if this bill is passed. My best guess is that the minimum dimensions correspond roughly to what we have now: 30 to 31 inches tall and seats about 17 inches wide. So, the likely result of this is that the fold of the seat will not be worse – it will remain pretty much the same. What will be interesting to see, is how a federal requirement will affect very low cost carriers like Spirit and Frontier that offer only 28 inches of legroom. Will they have to extend their legroom? ?

The width and pitch of seats have steadily declined in recent years to the point that some consumer advocates have argued that narrow seats combined with higher percentages of occupied seats could pose a hazard during an evacuation d & # 39; emergency. A few months ago, in response to a court order, the FAA stated that it determined that the size of airline seats was not a safe evacuation factor. The new legislation would override this determination.

The committee's decision not to regulate air fares was only taken a few days after Delta and American joined United and JetBlue to increase the rate for a first piece of checked luggage by 20% to $ 30. Airlines for America (A4A), the airline trade organization, applauded the committee's bill and urged the House and Senate to adopt it. A4A was strongly opposed to federal regulation of fees charged by its members, as these fees generate billions of dollars in annual revenue from checked baggage and reservation changes.

As the conference committee bill represents a bipartisan compromise developed after lengthy negotiations and Congress must approve an FAA bill this week so that money is not available, the House and Senate are mind.

Hmmm. The fact that the airline trade association supports the FAA's draft law suggests that consumer protections will have little or no teeth at all. Https://t.co/VXqWrw47WM

– Chris McGinnis (@cjmcginnis) September 24, 2018

The legislation contains several other consumer provisions, including:

> A rule stating that only pre-screened passengers enrolled in PreCheck can use accelerated screening channels – non-members – would be prohibited. We wrote about this month.

> Mandatory reimbursements to passengers for services they have paid through fees but have not received – for example, checked baggage fees for baggage that has been lost.

> A ban on cell phone calls in flight, which airlines do not currently authorize, although no law or regulation prohibits them.

> Prohibition against taking passengers on an overbooked flight against their will after boarding. (Remember the infamous case of Dr. David Dao, who was mistreated and removed from a United flight?)

> An order to DOT to determine whether airlines engage in unfair or deceptive practices if they blame the weather for a flight delay or cancellation when in fact this may be due to other factors .

To what extent is it likely that the FAA's final approval bill will provide all these protections to consumers? The current wave against more government regulations will it decline? Please leave your thoughts in the comments or on our Facebook page.

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Chris McGinnis is the founder of TravelSkills.com. The author is solely responsible for the content above, and it is used here with his permission. You can reach Chris at [email protected] or on Twitter @ cjmcginnis.