The Dec. 23 article "Airlines apply the seat squeeze" seems paradoxical. Even as the TSA is trying hard to make passenger security screening less onerous, the airlines continue to degrade their part of the flying experience. Specifically, the article lists the "creative" ways the airlines have of squeezing more people into the same confining space by manipulating seat size, placement and tilt options — or nonoptions, as one airline is forcing people to live with a permanent 3-inch seat setback angle.
Later, the article states that airlines "are thinking only of their customers, trying to keep costs down." I submit that they're thinking only of their bottom lines while seeing just how far they can push passengers before the passengers decide that the spacious, comfortable seating of Amtrak is a better alternative. Or more of us start lobbying Congress for convenient and comfortable high-speed rail service between more major U.S. cities, similar to Acela Express service in the Northeast.
BILL STEINBICKER, Minnetonka
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The article presents the seat modifications as if there are no other ways for the airlines to solve their financial problems. Until the top executives are not making more money in one year than average people make in several lifetimes and until all of their employees are making a living wage (even the folks who clean the bathrooms), it's just about greed, and as usual, the consumers get squeezed.
