‘A huge safety issue’: Canada needs standards to prevent cramming too many people on flights, advocate says

HALIFAX — An airline passenger advocate says Canada need to look at establishing seat-size standards for commercial airlines.

Gabor Lukacs says an attempt by American Sen. Charles Schumer to want the U.S. government to determine seat-size standards is one thing that needs to be done in Canada.

Lukacs said such standards are needed on Canadian flights, as cramming too many people onto an airplane poses safety risks.

“It’s an enormous safety issue,” said Lukacs from Halifax on Sunday. “If you cram too many passengers in too small of the space, then some people will end up the inability to evacuate the plane in the same amount of time (during an emergency).”

They’re like sardines.

Lukacs said overcrowding planes also infringes on passenger comfort, especially on lengthy flights.

“It can be very problematic,” he said. “There’s even the issue of air rage. Because seats are so close, you’ve individuals who use such things as stoppers from allowing the seat in-front in it to recline. It makes tension between two strangers… or even a small amount of tension can spark a fist fight.”

Lukacs said creating standards that apply to all commercial airlines will bring Canada consistent with other jurisdictions, like the European Union.

“When it comes to air passenger rights, we’re greatly behind the rest of the world,” said Lukacs.

Transport Canada did not immediately return a request for comment Sunday.

The U.S. also does not have federal limits how close an airline’s row of seats could be or how wide an airline’s seat should be.

Schumer, a New York Democrat, says he will add an amendment to some bill that’s pending before Congress that would require American Federal Aviation Administration to set the seat-size guidelines. A vote is expected in March.

Schumer said airlines have been slowly reducing legroom and seat width.

“They’re like sardines,” Schumer said of airplane passengers. “It’s not a secret that airlines are looking for different options to cut costs, however they shouldn’t be cutting inches of legroom and seat width along the way … It’s here we are at the FAA to step-up and prevent this deep-seated problem from continuing.”

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Schumer said seat pitch, the length from a point on an airline seat and the same just right the seat in front of it, has dropped from 35 inches within the 1970s to some current average of closer to 31 inches, and seat width has gone from 18.5 inches to about 16.5 inches.

He argues the requirement is required to stop airlines from shrinking those numbers even more.

An FAA spokesman said agency officials “anticipate reviewing” Schumer’s proposal.

Airlines for America, a business trade group representing a range of U.S. carriers, said it believes the government’s role is to determine a seat size that is safe, but opposes the proposed regulation.

“We feel the federal government shouldn’t regulate, but instead market forces, which reflect consumer decisions and competition must decide what’s offered,” spokeswoman Jean Medina said. “As with any commercial product or service, customers vote every day using their wallet.”

— With files from The Associated Press