When PR Fails

Airlines with any kind of customer listening know customers are complaining about space. The incredible shrinking seat. But the carriers have done nothing but skinny the chairs some more. It is a failure of PR and the courts are now involved. “Judges on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on Friday directed the F.A.A. to “adequately address” a petition that raised safety concerns about the increasingly cramped conditions on airplanes.” It didn’t have to be this way. The airlines could have controlled their greed and allowed adequate seat room for all customers, even those in economy, but they continued to press their luck. Now the government is involved, the power has been taken from their hands and there will be regulation. The F.A.A.,which had ducked the issue, is under orders to examine the situation and act. The agency is examining the ruling and determining what it is going to do. Maybe next time passengers have complaints there will be a sympathetic ear.