Panel asks: Could cramped airline seats be dangerous?

I think in the end, what will happen is that with the technology finally available, airlines can finally get rid of heavy and bulky audio/video on demand (AVOD) displays for every seat in favor of systems that allow passengers to connect to the airplane's in-flight entertainment system through a USB connector to their tablet computers and smartphones (including all Apple devices using the Lightning connector). This will allow for physically smaller seating in all classes so we could accommodate minimum standards for seat width and legroom without sacrificing seating capacity.

Raymond makes a good point, but unfortunately if that became the norm then the industry would simple try to cram in more seats rather than keep the number of seats and increase personal space per passenger.

The first comment might be expensive.

Paying the extra money for "economy comfort" is throwing that money away for nothing. The "extra legroom" is negligible and the Delta flight I did this on supposedly had free drink service but only in theory. In reality, the attendants were too busy in other parts of the plane to circulate around taking drink orders as if they were restaurant servers. I got on the plane a little earlier, that's all I got in return for the "upgrade." The best you can do is try to get an aisle seat and sneak a little legroom in between service runs by the cabin attendants or pay for the full upgrade to business class.

And now airlines are looking into bench or row seats? Ridiculous. I know airlines need to be profitable, but flying is a tiring, uncomfortable ordeal you pay thousands for. The first few times I did it, the novelty of flying got me through it. That's long gone. Along with comfort and service on flights.