How well do economy class seats accommodate todays travelers?
Very poorly. The only people who find adequate space in economy are anorexic jockeys and teen-age female gymnasts from eastern Europe. Width is a particular problem. The most comprehensive anthropometric study of airline seating space I could find concluded that to be comfortable, American women require seat cushions at least 20 ½ inches wide and American men require shoulder width of at least 22 inches. Moreover, that study—by ICE Ergonomics and two universities, no longer available online—was published 10 years ago, and Americans have grown even wider since then. No ordinary economy class seating in the world meets those standards, and neither Airbus nor Boeing narrow-body jets are capable of providing adequate width in the preferred (by airlines, not travelers) six-abreast configuration. Legroom isn’t as easily quantified as width, because of the varying geometries of different seat designs. But subjective reports suggest that adequate legroom requires a minimum of 34-inch pitch for
