14 | EXPRESS | 08.28.2014 | THURSDAY
Dems use ballot measures to get out the vote Some of the hardest-fought — and most expensive — ballot battles of the 2014 midterms won’t involve candidates at all. They’ll be questions that promise to help political strategists, especially Democrats, drive turnout for other races. Here are a few proxy battles from around the country. REID WILSON AND NIR AJ CHOKSHI ( T WP)
Abortion rights In Colorado, Sen. Mark Udall (D) wants single women to vote against Amendment 67, which would amend the state’s constitution to define a fetus as a person, and hopes they’ll also vote for Udall and other Democrats on the ticket.
Minimum wage In Arkansas and Alaska, Democrats hope ballot measures that would raise the minimum wage will drive turnout among low-income voters, who are more likely to vote for Sens. Mark Pryor, D-Ark., and Mark Begich, D-Alaska.
Marijuana Democrats hope an initiative in Florida to legalize marijuana for medicinal purposes gives a boost to former Gov. Charlie Crist (D) in his tight race against incumbent Gov. Rick Scott (R); both sides are pouring millions into the proxy fight.
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Airline space invaders It’s not your imagination: Seats on airplanes really are getting smaller and smaller
TRENDS When two United Airlines passengers did battle this week over legroom, they touched a nerve among cramped passengers everywhere. Fliers aren’t imagining it: Airliners across the country have pushed for years for denser, more lucrative cabins — and jet makers are unveiling innovative new ways to cram more passengers into shrinking seats. The average short-haul passenger aboard a U.S. airliner gets 32 inches of “seat pitch,” an industry term for the space between rows, an analysis of data from travel compendium SeatGuru shows. But 11 of the 13 biggest U.S. airliners run flights with even less legroom. JetBlue Airways and Virgin America now provide the roomiest arrangements, with an economy-row average of about 35 inches. But even those jetliners aren’t opposed to shrinking fliers’ space. When JetBlue announced it would double the number of
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“Even More Space” seats on one fleet, it stole away the roominess from other coach seats. Cramping matters even further, Spirit and Allegiant Air have removed the reclining features from their seats, locking seat backs eternally upright. “It’s one of the most unmistakable trends over the past number of years: densification,” said Seth Kaplan, an analyst for Airline Weekly, an industry publication. “And it’s accelerated with the fact that flights are much fuller than they used to be.” Airlines have also installed skinnier seat cushions, pushed for “ultra slimline” rows and shoehorned in more seats to profit from more passengers. In 2012, most of Boeing’s most popular aircraft, the 777, were delivered with 10 seats to a row, breaking from a decadeslong tradition of nine-seat rows. Airbus, which originally designed its A320 jet to fly with 150 seats, is now pushing to pack in up to 186 passengers.
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Cramped in coach While seat space is shrinking on all airliners, some have roomier cabins than others. Here are some of the best (and worst) at allocating space, according to data from SeatGuru on economy-class seats for flights six hours or less. (TWP) 28 INCHES: The “seat pitch” — or space between rows — on some Spirit flights, which is the least amount of space on any airliner. 39 INCHES: The largest pitch, which can be found on some JetBlue flights. 17 INCHES: The width of the smallest seats, which many airliners feature on some flights. 25 INCHES: The width on some Allegiant Air flights — more than 4 inches wider than any other airliner.
“You don’t get a Mercedes S Class for a Ford Fusion price,” Spirit chief executive Ben Baldanza said last year. “If you want more legroom — go pay for it at
another airline.” Airlines have offered plusher arrangements for a price, but even that doesn’t prevent neighbors from sparring. Indeed, the battle of the “knee defender,” a $21.95 device that clamps onto the tray table preventing the next seat up from leaning back, raged in United Airlines’ “Economy Plus” section, where coach fliers can pay a premium for four extra inches of precious room. Travelers disagree on whether reclining one’s seat is OK. But nearly everyone has found something to complain with regarding the coach-cabin crunch. A TripAdvisor survey in June found fliers were most peeved when planes had limited legroom and uncomfortable seats. So why aren’t airliners giving fliers more space? Simple: Cramming pays. Spirit — the no-frills, high-fee airline — posted half a billion dollars in revenue in the second quarter, 22 percent higher than the same time last year. DREW HARWELL (THE WASHINGTON POST)
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