Did you even read the fucking article?  Seats were 18 inches wide before airline deregulation in the 1970s and have since been whittled to 16 and a half inches, he said, while seat pitch used to be 35 inches and has decreased to about 31 inches.  Since deregulation, which happened in 1978, the seats have gotten smaller. This is stated unambiguously and directly in the article. Your reading comprehension is as terrible as the cleanliness of your bird's cage. Your assertion that "seats aren't getting smaller" is demonstrably false. Jesus fuck. Why are some of the FPH posters here so god damn retarded?