Hacker News Reader

I honestly wonder if those measurements get adjusted over time or if the baseline of "average human height" (which I hope was factored into the calculation) was taken in the 50s? 60s? (when was commercial flight "mainstreamed"?) - as various studies show that it's been going up.

Will our ancestors (again +10cm[0]) in 100 years still mutter about reclining seats? :)

[0]: http://www.natureworldnews.com/articles/3780/20130902/averag...

View on HN

i know the airlines here in Europe have reduced the space quite a lot to fit extra rows, basically forcing tall people into upgrading their seats.

Do you have a source for that?

I fly a lot within Europe (granted, with a limited selection of airlines) since 2006 and never noticed a decline of space during this time.

Except for the super discount carriers (I rarely fly Easy Jet and never flew Ryanair, so I can't really comment on that) the seat pitch seems around 31" in economy for most flights I ever took.

This is about what most airlines offer on long haul flights (in cattle class) and is certainly tolerable for short hops of less than two hours.

Perhaps our descendants will.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com