Flying on Southwest Airlines may be hazardous to your health.

Saturday in early August several infirm elderly people seated
themselves in middle emergency exit row seats on a Southwest Airlines
737 at Seatac Airport. In my experience this is not at all unusual.
Southwest uses a first-come, first-seated boarding rule. Infirm
elderly board before ordinary passengers and get first seat pick. The
middle emergency exit row seats are preferred by some of them because
of extra leg room.

This time a passenger informed one of the cabin crew that he did not
think an elderly woman sitting at an emergency exit could handle that
exit in case of an emergency. Additionally, there was baggage sticking
out from under a seat into her aisle.

The crew member went forward and returned with the pilot. She then
explained that the elderly woman was perfectly OK where she was as
long she was willing to handle her exit hatch in an emergency. The
answer as to whether that woman was strong enough to handle her exit
hatch was not mentioned. She also explained that passengers were
allowed to place any baggage they wanted to under any seat.

I was, and continue to be, incredulous about that crew member's
ignorant explanations. The pilot did not say a word.

She and the pilot then went forward. Several minutes later she
returned, and the original informing passenger was lead away forward
and out of the plane. He returned alone several moments later,
collected his belongings, and departed the plane.

I have given this curious incident much thought since then. Here are
my current passenger safety conclusions:

1. This ongoing practice of allowing the infirm elderly to sit at the
middle emergency exits in Southwest airliners is hazardous. It
contravenes current federal passenger safety regulations. In this
instance, that elderly woman did not appear anywhere near strong
enough to handle her emergency exit hatch. She would have been a
serious obstacle to clearing that exit for others in case of an
emergency. This situation is simply unacceptable.

2. Allowing baggage to stick out into the middle emergency exit row
aisle is also hazardous. It directly contravenes current federal
passenger safety regulations.

3. There were only three cabin crew members on this plane. If there
had been an emergency requiring the use of emergency exits, those
three would have been fully occupied with the fore and aft emergency
exits. None of the three would have been available to instruct and
assist the people in the middle emergency exit rows.

4. The pilot had a duty to correct the crew member's ignorant
explanations and the two passenger safety hazards. He did not. That
means he was fundamentally irresponsible about his passenger's safety.

Therefore I conclude flying on Southwest Airlines may be hazardous to
your health.

wrote:

Therefore I conclude flying on Southwest Airlines may be hazardous to
your health.

Why did you wait 2 months to tell us this?

No airline has any kind of test (physical or mental) to see if passengers
seated along the exit row can or cannot perform the required safety
function, aside from some obvious cases (e.g. passengers with no arms,
passenger using a wheelchair, etc.). Just because someone is old don't mean
they are "infirmed". This is true of airlines that are first come first
serve or have reserved seatings. They just informed the passengers seated
in those rows about their obligations.

If you feel unsafe, you can do as the other passenger, take another flight.


wrote in message
...
Saturday in early August several infirm elderly people seated
themselves in middle emergency exit row seats on a Southwest Airlines
737 at Seatac Airport. In my experience this is not at all unusual.
Southwest uses a first-come, first-seated boarding rule. Infirm
elderly board before ordinary passengers and get first seat pick. The
middle emergency exit row seats are preferred by some of them because
of extra leg room.

This time a passenger informed one of the cabin crew that he did not
think an elderly woman sitting at an emergency exit could handle that
exit in case of an emergency. Additionally, there was baggage sticking
out from under a seat into her aisle.

The crew member went forward and returned with the pilot. She then
explained that the elderly woman was perfectly OK where she was as
long she was willing to handle her exit hatch in an emergency. The
answer as to whether that woman was strong enough to handle her exit
hatch was not mentioned. She also explained that passengers were
allowed to place any baggage they wanted to under any seat.

I was, and continue to be, incredulous about that crew member's
ignorant explanations. The pilot did not say a word.

She and the pilot then went forward. Several minutes later she
returned, and the original informing passenger was lead away forward
and out of the plane. He returned alone several moments later,
collected his belongings, and departed the plane.

I have given this curious incident much thought since then. Here are
my current passenger safety conclusions:

1. This ongoing practice of allowing the infirm elderly to sit at the
middle emergency exits in Southwest airliners is hazardous. It
contravenes current federal passenger safety regulations. In this
instance, that elderly woman did not appear anywhere near strong
enough to handle her emergency exit hatch. She would have been a
serious obstacle to clearing that exit for others in case of an
emergency. This situation is simply unacceptable.

2. Allowing baggage to stick out into the middle emergency exit row
aisle is also hazardous. It directly contravenes current federal
passenger safety regulations.

3. There were only three cabin crew members on this plane. If there
had been an emergency requiring the use of emergency exits, those
three would have been fully occupied with the fore and aft emergency
exits. None of the three would have been available to instruct and
assist the people in the middle emergency exit rows.

4. The pilot had a duty to correct the crew member's ignorant
explanations and the two passenger safety hazards. He did not. That
means he was fundamentally irresponsible about his passenger's safety.

Therefore I conclude flying on Southwest Airlines may be hazardous to
your health.

AJC writes
It was on either Ryanair or easyjet that I noticed they dealt with
this quite logically. If you needed preboarding, then you were not fit
to sit in an exit row, simple as that. In my recent experience of
airlines in Europe, they will not allow anything at all, even the
smallest item to encroach on the floor space near an exit.

Ryanair colour code the seats. If I remember rightly, most seats have a
yellow headrest cover, but seats in exit rows have a red headrest cover.
If you preboard, you're told by the cabin crew to pick any seat with a
yellow headrest cover.
--
Simon Elliott
http://www.ctsn.co.uk/

Peter L writes
No airline has any kind of test (physical or mental) to see if passengers
seated along the exit row can or cannot perform the required safety
function, aside from some obvious cases (e.g. passengers with no arms,
passenger using a wheelchair, etc.). Just because someone is old don't mean
they are "infirmed". This is true of airlines that are first come first
serve or have reserved seatings. They just informed the passengers seated
in those rows about their obligations.

On one airline I travelled with some time ago, I was sitting in a row
with a wing exit. A member of the cabin crew checked that I'd read the
safety card and knew how to open the wing exit. This is the only time I
recall this - I wonder why it isn't SOP?
--
Simon Elliott
http://www.ctsn.co.uk/

"Simon Elliott" wrote in message
news
Peter L writes
No airline has any kind of test (physical or mental) to see if passengers
seated along the exit row can or cannot perform the required safety
function, aside from some obvious cases (e.g. passengers with no arms,
passenger using a wheelchair, etc.). Just because someone is old don't
mean
they are "infirmed". This is true of airlines that are first come first
serve or have reserved seatings. They just informed the passengers
seated
in those rows about their obligations.

On one airline I travelled with some time ago, I was sitting in a row
with a wing exit. A member of the cabin crew checked that I'd read the
safety card and knew how to open the wing exit. This is the only time I
recall this - I wonder why it isn't SOP?

It is. It's been done on all the SW and UA flights I have been on the last
couple of years. But they don't have an agility test or mental test to see
if you are capable of doing it. They asked, you said yes, and that was
that.

--
Simon Elliott
http://www.ctsn.co.uk/

Simon Elliott wrote:

AJC writes

It was on either Ryanair or easyjet that I noticed they dealt with
this quite logically. If you needed preboarding, then you were not fit
to sit in an exit row, simple as that. In my recent experience of
airlines in Europe, they will not allow anything at all, even the
smallest item to encroach on the floor space near an exit.


Ryanair colour code the seats. If I remember rightly, most seats have a
yellow headrest cover, but seats in exit rows have a red headrest cover.
If you preboard, you're told by the cabin crew to pick any seat with a
yellow headrest cover.

Is this because Ryanair passengers do not know how to determine an exit
row without the headrest cover color.

Peter L wrote:


It is. It's been done on all the SW and UA flights I have been on the last
couple of years. But they don't have an agility test or mental test to see
if you are capable of doing it. They asked, you said yes, and that was
that.


Even without a test, I would think that if you are disabled enough to
require preboarding then you don't belong in the exit row.

"mrtravel" wrote in message
om...
Peter L wrote:


It is. It's been done on all the SW and UA flights I have been on the
last
couple of years. But they don't have an agility test or mental test to
see
if you are capable of doing it. They asked, you said yes, and that was
that.


Even without a test, I would think that if you are disabled enough to
require preboarding then you don't belong in the exit row.


Quite logical. I have not paid much attention, but next time I fly SW, I'll
see if any of the pre-boarded passengers take the exit row.

Peter L wrote:


Quite logical. I have not paid much attention, but next time I fly SW, I'll
see if any of the pre-boarded passengers take the exit row.


Do they let Elite flyers preboard?

For WN, I refer to "elite" as those with the cards that let them take a
guest free.