Aggressive behaviour between passengers in Economy / Couch (because of the recline of the seat) on a number of airlines in the USA in the last days has led to a discussion about weather the seats are actually suitable, size-wise, for most passengers.
"To recline or not to recline? That is the question now being hotly debated among air travelers after three flights were forced to land after passengers on board began fighting about reclining seats.
But are passengers really the problem? The real issue may be that most airline seats are not designed to fully accommodate the human body in its various shapes and sizes.
“We are fighting each other, but the seats are not designed right,” said Kathleen M. Robinette, professor and head of the department of design, housing and merchandising at Oklahoma State University. “The seats don’t fit us.”
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"Seat designers often make the assumption that nearly everyone will be accommodated if they design a seat for a man in the 95th percentile of measurements, meaning that they are larger than all but 5 percent of other men — and, theoretically, all women. But even in that group, there are big differences.
Take the buttock-to-knee measurement of the largest men in the study: In the North American group, the average measurement was 26.5 inches, but the Dutch men were larger, measuring 27.6 inches. Factor in the fact that nobody on an airplane sits upright with the knees bent at a 90 degree angle, plus variations in calf length and thigh length.
The result is that the measurements don’t really account for different body shapes and variations in the way people sit.In addition, choosing the 95th percentile of men as a cutoff means at least 5 percent, as many as 1 in 20 men, on the plane will be using seats that are too small for them. “That’s about 10 people on every plane who are dis-accommodated, as well as all the people sitting next to them,” Dr. Robinette said."
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