Fliers Aren't Getting Any Smaller. Is It Time to Widen Airplane Seats?

(Photo: Thinkstock)

Airline passengers are getting larger, and airline seats are getting smaller. It’s an unsustainable trend, for which one airline expert is proposing a radical solution.

George Hobica, founder of Airfarewatchdog, is calling on airlines to designate one or two rows on their planes as “economy class wide” seating.

Hobica, noting that most airline seats measure only about 17 inches wide, says standard economy seats can no longer accommodate America’s growing share of larger passengers.

So Hobica believes it makes sense to have another class of seats, which would function just like “economy class comfort,” “main cabin extra,” and all the other variations on economy class seating that airlines have introduced in recent years. Hobica suggests that for an extra fee of $25 to $75 (or no cost for frequent flyers), “passengers of size” — as Hobica calls them — should be able to purchase these wider seats, which would be 8 inches wider than the standard economy seat.

Passengers of all sizes would be ecstatic about the larger seat option. (Photo: Thinkstock)

“The obesity problem, not just in the U.S. but worldwide, isn’t going away any time soon,” Hobica reasons. “This modest proposal would solve a weighty issue.”

He might be on to something. I was thinking just such a thing during my most recent flight, when I found myself sandwiched in a middle seat next to a severely obese gentleman, whose girth spilled from his aisle seat into my area. I was extremely uncomfortable; I pretty much had to make peace with the fact that this stranger and I were doomed to have some measure of physical intimacy for the duration of the (thankfully) short flight.

Related: Are You Enlightened or a Control Freak? What Your Airplane Seat Choice Says About You

But as uncomfortable as I was, the man was even more uncomfortable. He sat ramrod straight through the whole flight, hands self-consciously perched on his stomach, lest he encroach any further on his fellow passenger’s (i.e., my) airspace any more than he already had. It illustrated Hobica’s point perfectly: A wider seat would have made things more comfortable for both of us.

As Hobica notes, some airlines require severely overweight passengers to buy a second seat. But that seems like an extremely draconian measure that requires flight attendants to play weight inspector. Or, worse, it requires an adjoining passenger to complain — which in my recent flight I would have felt awful about doing to my large seatmate (But I must admit that if it had been a 15-hour flight to Australia, instead of the quick, two-hour jaunt that it was, I may not have suffered so willingly.).

So what do you think, readers: Should airlines offer extra-wide seats for extra-wide passengers? Vote in our poll, and leave a comment below.

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