New Jersey’s senior senator is joining the fight against shrinking airline seats.
Democrat Bob Menendez has co-sponsored a measure led by New York Senator Chuck Schumer that would require the FAA to set minimum seat size standards for airplanes.
Menendez says the airline industry will “stop at nothing for the almighty dollar,” even if it means literally packing passengers into their seats like sardines.
The average distance between rows of seats has dropped from 35 inches in the 1970s to 31 inches and the average airline seat width has shrunk from 18-and-a-half inches to approximately 17 inches.