The right to space

Planes are extremely cramped and many Indians don't get the concept of personal space

It would inappropriate to talk of the alleged molestation that took place onboard an airline a few days ago where a teenage Bollywood actress claimed that the passenger behind her touched her till all the facts in the case are brought to light by the ongoing police investigation. But one thing is certain, that the passenger did put his foot up on another passenger's armrest and those of us who are frequent flyers find this horrific. The incident occurred in business class, where seats have more space between them than cramped the economy class; the invasion of a fellow passenger's space on an aircraft is just not acceptable.

Airlines are nowadays cramming more and more passengers into a finite space. Take the extremely popular A320 aircraft flown by IndiGo and Air India among others and 5000 of which are in service worldwide. In the early days, airlines flew just 150-160 passengers in a typical configuration including business class. That number is today a standard 180 on a low-cost carrier like IndiGo. However, the latest A320neo planes of that airline have 186 seats achieved by ‘space-saving’ toilets. The space between two rows of seats, known as seat-pitch, has come down from a comfortable 32-33 inches in the 1980s to a standard of 30-inches and an extremely tight 28-inches in some cases.

Even larger planes such as the Boeing 777, which was designed for nine-seats across every row, are now regularly being operated with 10-seats across with the urge to get more bums on seats overriding any notion of comfort. But the fact is also that in real terms, average fares on a popular route like Delhi-Mumbai are less than a third of fares in the 1980s, so not only do people want to fly more, millions more Indians can afford to fly thanks to these lower fares. But is the price worth it when it comes to an extreme lack of comfort? The Federal Aviation Administration, the airline industry regulator in the United States, is being urged to investigate airlines for these cramped seats which some passengers argue is a safety hazard, especially as human beings are growing taller and wider. But in India, there is the added problem that most of us cannot respect personal space. Stuck inside a flying tube for upto three hours seems like a human rights violation, and then to have a foot or hand or drooping head invade that little space that you can call your own, well, that's unacceptable. Flying is a chore for many of us as it is, so do please keep your bodily appendages to yourselves.

Source : http://www.dailypioneer.com/columnists/edit/the-right-to-space.html