Airline Passengers Protest Squishy Seats

September 11th, 2015  |  Canadian Business

Airline efforts to recoup costs have crossed the line, according to FlyersRights.org, and people aren’t going to take it anymore.

As of September 9, more than 31,000 people have signed FlyersRights.org petition against a proposal to squeeze more seats into a plane by facing them backwards.

Paul Hudson, president of FlyersRights, is saying that passengers have had enough. He states his organization is 60,000 members strong and they’re petition to congress is demanding that protections are put in place to ensure passenger safety. 

Included in the petition is the concern about airline seating. It says the government must “protect passenger safety by mandating minimum seat pitch standards to preclude ingress/egress and health issues.”

But according to the Economist, people just aren’t willing to pay for the extra leg room.  “Given a choice, air travellers always say they want more room and extra comfort, but are usually not prepared to pay any more money for them—or at least not a lot more.”

Passengers are just too willing to put up with second-rate service from the airlines in exchange for saving a couple of bucks, the newspaper stated. Even if FlyersRights was successful and Congress took note of their concerns, the airline industry’s powerful lobby organization, Airlines for America, would fight the petition, calling it “gratuitous federal interference”.

Hudson remains undaunted, however, stating that people are ready to take a stand and that he’ll be there to do it.

Image Courtesy of Adobe Stock