If Sen. Chuck Schumer is sitting behind you on an airplane, think carefully before you recline your seat — he’s got a thing about airlines not providing customers enough legroom.
Schumer (D-N.Y.) pressed ahead Sunday with his years-long quest to give airline passengers a bit more leg room by demanding the Federal Aviation Administration wrap up an overdue study about passenger seating space.
Schumer, the Senate Minority Leader, believes the FAA’s study is “aimed at coming out on the airlines’ side” and will likely leave passengers with less space. The study of how shrinking seat size and leg room affects passenger safety was required by a Schumer-sponsored bill that passed last year.
The FAA’s report was supposed to be released in October. Schumer said its delay is worrisome for the flying public.
Schumer laid out his concerns in a letter to FAA administrator Steve Dickson that alleged the study does not consider passengers who have disabilities or fly with pets or children.
“The FAA must do all that it humanly can to protect the flying public,” Schumer wrote in the letter. “To that end, I respectfully request that the agency’s testing of evacuation procedures include all demographics and real-world conditions found on commercial aircraft, and that it be completed as swiftly as possible in order to issue seat size regulations.”
FAA spokesman Jim Peters said the study is well underway, and that more than 700 people have participated in the agency’s study at Mike Monroney Aeronautical Center’s Civil Aviation Medical Institute in Oklahoma City.
“By the end of this year, the FAA plans to conclude evacuation testing to determine what, if any, regulatory changes are necessary,” Peters said.
Schumer also said that members of Congress “ought to stand up and have the guts” to start a fight with the airline industry so passengers aren’t treated like a “can of sardines.”
He added that passengers should have enough room to recline their seats without bothering those sitting behind them.
If Schumer is sitting in front of you on a plane, don’t worry that he might smash up your knees by leaning his seat back. “I can fall asleep and take a nap with the seat straight better than when it’s reclined,” he told the Daily News.
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