If the DOT wants to decide what is "fair" to consumers, I hope they will also look into if it is "fair" to allow someone to sit in a seat they cannot possibly fit into and intrude into the seat next to them.
I like how you assume that, because you're cramped on a plane, it must be that everyone else is a lard-ass.
Look into what's been happening to seat width* on passenger flights over the past decade or so. The most recent reduction in seat width (which enables the airlines to fit another seat in each row (2 on a wide-bodied aircraft) puts the seats at about the same width as the average adult male's shoulder width of ~17". (A few 'bargain' airlines have seats as narrow as 15".) Given that the armrests are 2" wide, and the average adult posterior (male *or* female) is 15", there's not much room for *anybody* in an airliner these days.
I'm not overweight, but at 6'2", and with 18" shoulders, it doesn't matter where I sit on a plane. I find myself being forced to lean toward (or even into) the aisle just to avoid crushing my seat mate against the cabin wall. I've had to twist sideways in my seat to allow the drink cart to go past on more than one occasion.
The folks who can afford to fly business class, or first class have it a bit better, with seats that are about 19" and 21" wide, respectively. That means the folks in business class have enough room to *not* keep their arms pressed to their sides for the entire trip, and the folks in first class can actually relax without shoving their neighbor. The rest of us cattle down in coach aren't so lucky.
*The seat width is measured from center of arm rest to center of arm rest.
----------
You. Sound. Exactly. Like. The. Guy. I. Do. Not. Want. To. Listen. To. Talking. On . Your. Mobile. In. Flight.
Strange, you sound exactly like the guy I don't want to listen to bitching for the entire flight about someone else talking. Do you think that just because you're not on a phone, that the noise you make when you talk is somehow 'special'?
----------
I don't think you understand how they work. Noise cancelling headphones cancel out ambient noise that does not change, particularly noise with a lot of bass. So it does a great job of cancelling out engine noise (on a plane or in a car), as well as HVAC and general computer and background noise in an office.
The effect of this (and kind of the goal) is that it makes the spoken voice much more clear. If I wear my NC headphones in my office, the HVAC and computer noises vanish. And I can hear people talking in distant parts of the office that I have never heard before.
TL;DR - noise cancelling headphones will make cellphone conversations around you much more clear.
You're apparently unaware that the noise cancelling headphones he's talking about cancel *outside* noise, so you can hear what's *playing* through them more clearly. They've been available for quite a few years now. Maybe you should try them.
----------
I don't think people are overreacting to this because frequent fliers understand that it only takes a handful of uncouth loudmouth passengers to ruin the flight for everyone. Again, there is no dire need for anyone to have a...conversation on a plane. It's 1-4 hours if domestic surely they can hold off for that long just as they do for smoking. And International. Oh geez. Tower of Babel.
That's it! Gags for everyone! No talking!