They ran some weird ads back in the late sixties and early seventies…

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Image courtesy of “knutmo”.

This article also appears in Global Nerdy.

I’m 5’11” (180cm) tall, and here’s what the legroom in United Airlines’ economy class is like once the guy in front of you has reclined his seat. He’d originally reclined his seat all the way, but I was able to talk him into doing it only halfway:

As you can see, my knees are touching the seat in front of me. If you’re 6 feet or taller, you’ll probably want to get upgraded to what United calls “Economy Plus”, where you get a little more legroom – about as much as other airlines’ economy class seats.

While I believe that airline seats should be widened a little – even people of “average” build find them a bit narrow – I think that the Canadian Supreme Court’s recent ruling that the obese have the right to two airline seats for the price of one on flights within Canada is wrong. Just as airline cargo space has a value and you have to pay accordingly if you bring on more than the standard weight allotment, airline seats have value and you should have to pay for the seats you use.