31 JUL 2017: An appeals court panel said federal officials should reconsider whether to regulate the size of airline seats in the name of safety. One of the judges called it the case of the incredible shrinking airline seat.

A passenger group called Flyers Rights challenged the FAA in court, saying cramped planes are a safety hazard and the FAA needs to do something about it. The FAA had rejected the group’s request to write rules governing seat size and the distance between rows of seats.

On Friday, a three-judge panel for the federal appeals court in Washington said the FAA had relied on outdated or irrelevant tests and studies before deciding that seat spacing was a matter of comfort, not safety.

The judges said the agency must come up with a better response to the group’s safety concerns.

Flyers Rights says small seats that are bunched too close together slow down emergency evacuations and raise the danger of travellers developing vein clots.

Airlines have steadily reduced the space between rows to squeeze in extra seats and the industry has long opposed the regulation of seat size. The FAA spokesperson said the agency considers the spacing between seat rows when testing to make sure that airliners can be evacuated safely.

The FAA says it is studying the ruling. Airline lobby group, Airlines for America, declined to comment on the ruling.