Today I'm traveling from New York to Chicago on this plane.

今天我要搭這架飛機從紐約前往芝加哥。

It's an Airbus A319.

這是一架空中巴士 A319。

And I just so happened to have the blueprints or "Aircraft Characteristics, Airport and Maintenance Planning documents" in my possession.

我剛好擁有這架飛機的藍圖或稱《飛機特性、機場和維修計畫文件》。

As you can see here: economy class which is where I'll be sitting, has a seat pitch between 28 and 30 inches.

如圖所示：經濟艙，也就是我將要坐在位子，其座位間距在 28 和 30 英寸。

Seat pitch is the fancy term used to describe the distance between where your seat begins and the seat in front of you ends.

座位間距是一個奇特的術語，用於描述你的座位開始位置與你前面的座位結束位置之間的距離。

It's also colloquially known as legroom, for obvious reasons.

由於顯而易見的原因，它也被俗稱為「伸腿空間」。

Normally there's not enough.

通常是不夠的。

There's actually an appropriate amount of space.

實際上，空間很適當的。

Every time it's like riding with seats at the knees.

每次都像膝蓋坐著人一樣。

It could be better.

還可以更好。

Airplane seats weren't always designed this way.

飛機座椅並不總是這樣設計的。

So why have they changed?

那麼，他們為什麼會改變呢？

And how much legroom have we lost in the process?

在這個過程中，我們失去了多少伸腿空間？

I'm going to try and find out.

我要試著找出答案。

I'm 5'9” (175 cm) which according to Google, is precisely average.

我身高 5 英尺 9 英寸（175 釐米）根據谷歌的數據，這恰恰是平均值。

When I'm sitting down in an upright position, my buttock-to-knee length...

當我以直立的姿勢坐下時，我的臀部到膝蓋的長度...

which, before you harass me in the comments, is the official measurements that the FAA use in its testing, ends up being about 20 inches.

在你在評論中騷擾我之前，這是 FAA 在測試中使用的官方尺寸，最終約為 20 英寸。

And when I got on this plane...

當我上了這架飛機...

I ended up being fairly comfortable because I have room between my knee and the seat in front of me.

我最終感到相當舒適，因為我的膝蓋和前面的座位之間還有空間。

What's that look like? Five, six inches?

大概多長？五、六英寸？

Yeah... thereabouts.

是的......差不多。

That lovely voice that you just heard is my new Australian friend: Chris.

你剛剛聽到的那個美妙的聲音是我的新澳洲朋友：克里斯。

G'day mate, y'know?

日安，兄弟。

He and Brian, the two sweetest guys in the world who I had the privilege of sitting next to did not have the same spacious feeling that I did.

他和布萊恩，我有幸坐在旁邊的兩個世界上最可愛的人，卻沒有我那麼寬敞的感覺。

There's not enough room for me because I'm a bit around six foot.

沒有足夠的空間給我，因為我有六英尺左右。

Bit over six foot. And it's hard for me to fit.

六英尺多一點。我很難適應。

I'm not that big of a guy.

我不是那種大塊頭。

I'm 5'10. It's pretty, pretty crowded back here.

我身高 5 英尺 10 英寸。這裡非常非常擁擠。

And that might be because we have different buttock-to-knee ratios.

這可能是因為我們有不同的臀部與膝蓋的比例。

Like the space between Brian's knee and the chair in front of him was just...

就像布萊恩的膝蓋和他面前的椅子之間的空隙一樣只有...

I got three inches there.

大約三英寸。

And Chris's was...

而克里斯的...

I can't put a knife in there! I don't need to measure.

我連刀都放不進去！我不需要測量。

When I watch movies that take place in 50s, 60s, 70s, everything seems so much more spacious and luxurious.

當我看 50、60、70 年代的電影，一切都顯得更加寬敞和豪華。

And it's true.

這是真的。

Take the DC-3, which American Airlines began using in 1936.

以 DC-3 為例，美國航空公司於 1936 年開始使用。

AA's president at the time, C.R. Smith called it "The first airplane in the world that can make money just by hauling passengers."

當時的 AA 主席 C.R. 史密斯稱其為「世界上第一架僅靠運送乘客就能賺錢的飛機」。

And it was used for decades.

而且一用就是幾十年。

It seated 28 people.

它能容納 28 人。

And according to this 1957 Quebecair diagram, it had a luxurious seat pitch of 39 inches,

根據 1957 年 Quebecair 的圖表，它的豪華座椅間距為 39 英寸，

which is like ten more inches than I had on my plane to Chicago.

這比我在飛往芝加哥的飛機上多了十英寸。

In the late 60s, Boeing's 737 took over.

1960 年代末，波音公司的 737 取代了他的地位。

And it became one of the most well-known and successful aircrafts of all time.

它成為最知名、最成功的的飛機。

Iterations on the plane are still used regularly today.

飛機上的迭代至今仍經常使用。

These 2005 737 layout documents show that economy seats got anywhere from 30 to 34 inches in seat pitch.

這些 2005 年 737 佈局文件顯示，經濟艙座椅座椅間距從 30 英寸到 34 英寸不等。

Today, the biggest competitor to the 737 is the Airbus A320, which I flew on my way home from Chicago to NYC.

如今，737 最大的競爭對手是空中巴士 A320，我在從芝加哥飛往紐約的途中乘坐了這架飛機。

It's about twice as long as the DC-3 and can fit about 180 passengers.

它的長度大約是 DC-3 的兩倍，可容納約 180 名乘客。

And like most planes today, seat pitch varies within the aircraft.

與當今大多數飛機一樣，飛機內的座位間距各不相同。

On the lowest end for economy, it hovers around 28 to 29 inches.

最低端的經濟型，徘徊在 28 到 29 英寸之間。

But there are different tiers.

但也有不同的等級。

Like on my flight back from Chicago to New York, we paid about $30 extra for a premium economy seat.

比如在我從芝加哥飛回紐約的班機上我們多花了大約 30 美元，買了一個高級經濟艙座位。

For research purposes only.

僅供研究之用。

I took absolutely no pleasure in this.

我對此完全不以為然。

The people I sat next to weren't as chatty as they were on the way to Chicago.

坐在我旁邊的人並不像我前往芝加哥的路上的人那麼健談。

- Good luck. - Bye!

- 祝你好運。- 再見！

Miss you, Chris.

想你了，克里斯。

But I had way more legroom.

但我的伸腿空間要大得多。

Not only was I in Economy Plus, but I also ended up in the notoriously spacious exit row.

不僅是因為我乘坐豪華經濟艙，而且我還坐到了出了名的寬敞的逃生口旁邊的位子。

While, yes, I do get extra legroom.

是的，我確實獲得了額外的伸腿空間。

I also have a ton of extra responsibility in case this plane goes down.

我還有一大堆當飛機墜毀額需要負責的責任。

But anyways, instead of just six inches between the seat in front of me and my knee, I now had 14.

但無論如何，在我前面的座位和我的膝蓋之間的長度不是六吋寸，而是 14 英吋。

And it was luxurious.

而且非常豪華。

If Vox had sprung for first class for me, it would have cost $100 more than Economy Plus.

如果 Vox 為我買頭等艙，會比豪華經濟艙貴 100 美元。

But these schematics show that I would have gotten 39 inches of legroom, the same as the seats on the DC-3 from back in the day.

但這些示意圖顯示，我本可以得到 39 英寸的伸腿空間和當年 DC-3 上的座椅一樣。

But instead, I was here in Premium Economy.

但是我在這裡乘坐的是豪華經濟艙。

As I sat there with no TV in front of me.

我坐在那裡，面前沒有電視。

I began to think about the economics of comfort.

我開始思考舒適的經濟學問題。

Way back in the day, they didn't charge different prices based on whether you had a bulkhead seat or a window or an aisle seat.

遙想當年，他們不會根據你是否有艙壁座位、靠窗或過道座位收取不同的價格。

That's Nicholas Rupp.

那是 Nicholas Rupp。

He coauthored this 2022 paper that examined in-flight amenities by carriers provided by the US airlines.

他與他人共同撰寫了這篇 2022 年論文，研究了美國各航空公司提供的機上設施。

In the past, everything would be bundled together in your ticket price.

過去一切都附加在你的票價中。

You'd get a carry-on, a bag; you usually got to choose your seats.

你會得到一個隨身行李，一個包，你通常可以選擇座位。

But in the early 2000s, because of rising fuel costs and a slew of difficult world events events that made people less inclined to travel,

但在 2000 年代初，由於燃料成本上漲和一系列艱難的世界事件使人們不太願意旅行，

airliners started to unbundle all of those things,

航空公司開始拆分所有這些東西，

seemingly starting with baggage fees and eventually leading to charging customers more for seat selection.

似乎從行李費開始，最終導致向乘客收取更多選座費用。

Airlines have done a good job at figuring out what consumers prefer and then being able to extract additional payment out of consumers.

航空公司在了解消費者的喜好以及從消費者那裡收取額外費用方面做得很好。

Over the years, these extras have added up.

多年來，這些額外費用不斷增加。

JetBlue and Spirit, for example, have increased their overall revenues by several percentage points through these fees alone.

例如，捷藍航空和精神航空僅透過這些費用就將其總收入增加了幾個百分點。

And this has forced customers to decide with their dollar what they want.

這迫使客戶決定用他們的美元買到他們想要的東西。

I would never pay for more legroom.

我絕不會為更多的伸腿空間買單。

I'm just inherently going to try to buy the cheapest flight.

我本來就想買最便宜的機票。

I'm not going to like buy like a nicer seat just for like leg room.

我不會為了伸腿空間而買一個更好的座位。

If it weren't so much more I'd be willing to do that.

如果不是這麼貴，我倒是願意這麼做。

I feel like people that are taller should get priority seating. It's not their choice to be tall.

我覺得個子高的人應該優先獲得座位，長得高不是他們的選擇。

Flying isn't cheap.

飛行並不便宜。

But if you zoom out and take a look at the Bureau of Transportation's historical statistics and adjust for inflation,

但是，如果你把鏡頭拉遠，看一看在交通局的歷史統計數據並根據通貨膨脹率進行調整，

you can see that compared to 1993, domestic flights have actually gotten less expensive.

可以看出與 1993 年相比國內班機的價格實際上已經有所下降。

Nick tells me that this is in part because of unbundling.

Nick 告訴我，這部分是因為分拆的緣故。

And even most recently it's due to innovations like being able to have thinner seats.

甚至最近的創新也是如此，比如可以有更薄的座椅。

Yeah, that means changing the design of the seats to literally take out padding and depth from your seat back.

是的，這意味著要改變座椅的設計，從座椅靠背中取出填充物和深度。

For many airlines, this space saving meant that they were able to add an extra row of seats.

對許多航空公司來說，節省空間意味著他們能夠增加一排座位。

But most seats got an inch closer together.

但大多數座位的距離都拉近了一英寸。

For my experience, the seats were pretty comfortable though.

就我的體驗而言，座椅還是相當舒適的。

I think we will not go back in time where they had one price for wherever you sat in coach.

我認為我們不會回到無論你坐在經濟艙的哪個位置，都是一個價格的時代。

I believe what we're going to see is continue segmentation in the market,

我相信我們將會看到市場繼續細分，

offering a variety different classes of products and then allow the consumer to self-select what they want to pay for.

提供各種不同類別的產品，然後讓消費者自主選擇。

As I disembarked from the plane, I thought about the seats that I had been in, and all the people in the seats around me,

下飛機時我想到了我曾經坐過的座位，以及我周圍座位上的所有人。

and everyone I spoke to earlier that day. Like this one guy.

還有那天早些時候和我交談過的每個人。就像這個人。

If there could be a standard that was less cramped, I'd be thrilled.

如果能有一個不那麼擁擠的標準，我會很開心的。

In 2018, Congress sought a standard like this by introducing the FAA Reauthorization Act, which in Section 577 called for minimum dimensions for passenger seats,

2018 年，國會通過引入《聯邦航空局重新授權法案》來尋求這樣的標準，該法案第 577 條要求規定乘客座椅的最小尺寸，

including seat pitch as they are necessary for safety purposes.

包括座位間距，因為它們是安全所必需的。

The bill was signed into law on October 5th, 2018, but as of 2023, there are still no regulations,

該法案於2018年10月5日簽署成為法律，但截至2023年，仍沒有任何規定，

in part, thanks to a March court decision that decided there wasn't enough clear and indisputable evidence that small seats materially slow the exit of passengers in an emergency.

部分原因在於三月法院的一項裁決，該裁決認為沒有足夠明確且無可爭議的證據表明小座位會在緊急情況下嚴重減緩乘客的撤離速度。

Some, like Senator Tammy Duckworth think that the evacuation studies need to be redone to include people with disabilities or increased risk of injury to more accurately reflect a real world evacuation.

參議員塔米·達克沃斯等一些人認為，需要重新進行疏散研究，將殘疾人或受傷風險增加的人納入其中，以更準確地反映現實世界的疏散情況。

But safety and comfort aren't necessarily intertwined.

但安全和舒適並不一定是相互關聯的。

Comfort wasn't considered in the last study and the word doesn't show up at all in section 577.

上次研究中沒有考慮舒適度，而這個字根本沒有出現在第 577 節。

For now, seat pitch is still up to airlines and comfort still comes at a cost.

目前，座位間距仍由航空公司決定，但舒適還是要付出代價的。

Once on my honeymoon, I got upgraded to first class, so it was quite nice.

有一次度蜜月，我被升級到頭等艙，感覺很不錯。

You can enjoy that, but I'm not willing to pay that on a regular basis.

你可以享受，但我不願意經常支付這筆費用。

On both my flights, I was lucky enough to not have anybody I sat behind recline their seats.

在我的兩次航班上，我很幸運沒有讓我後面的任何人傾斜座位。

Even though that's not necessarily impacting legroom, it definitely makes me feel more claustrophobic.

儘管這不一定會影響伸腿空間，這肯定會讓我感到更加幽閉恐懼。

What about you?

你呢？

Are you pro- or anti-plane seat reclining?

你支持還是反對飛機座椅傾斜？

Let us know in the comments below.

請在下面的評論中告訴我們。