Undefined (and evolving?) terms?

fozzy — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 23:52:32 GMT

The "contracts" of carriage quoted in the article are interesting, particularly if they really are considered legally enforceable contracts. That is because key terms may not be defined. For example, it says a passenger must be able to "sit in a seat with the armrests down" but apparently doesn't define how large or wide that seat will be. Or that a person must be able to "normally fasten a seatbelt" across their lap - without saying how long the seatbelt is. If the terms are not defined, then they are subject to 'creep' as we've seen over the past decades - a "seat" keeps getting smaller and a "seatbelt" keeps getting shorter. For example, I think that different airlines may well have different "standard" length seatbelts. Years back when I flew often I usually had to ask for an extender flying on one particular airline because the belt was uncomfortably tight, but on other airlines I was fine.

The contracts might refer to some (probably obscure) federal regulations, or maybe not. But either way, if the airline does not make clear how wide its seats are then how can it expect people to know they won't fit (until they are aboard). Instead of having all this wondering, perhaps the airlines should simply come up with some numbers like "If your waist size is over XXX inches don't fly on our airline" or "if your thighs are bigger than XXX go elsewhere." Part of the problem is that the airline know very well that their seats are too small for *most* people, but they really don't want most people to avoid flying. Just the "really" big ones, and of course they won't be too specific on who that might be.....

Human Nature

Undefined (and evolving?) terms?