Oh my goodness. . .I don’t mean to bother you, but if you hadn’t noticed, all the seats in row 11 on our flight from Chicago O’Hare to Grand Rapids are completely empty. Normally that wouldn’t alarm me but if you aren’t aware, that’s the exit row.
I can’t be the only one who’s worried that the flight crew won’t have anyone to call on in the event of an emergency. This must be hugely important or else they would not have brought it up during the announcements before we took off. And yet, that row remains ominously empty. This is a travesty and someone should do something.
Now, no one expects there to be any problems during the flight, at least that’s what our flight attendant Sheila told us. But isn’t what they want you to think?
What if tragedy strikes? Who is going to open the exit door and assist fellow passengers in getting out of this airplane? The ERJ140 Safety Instruction pamphlet in our seat-back pocket explicitly states that if the crew wasn’t available, someone needs to step up. And that someone should be sitting in seats 11 A, B and C right now.
Sure, we are told that in the event of a crash landing and the cabin is full of fire and smoke, there will be a lighted pathway to the exits. But make no mistake. It is an outrage that no one will know what to do when we we all finally make it to the door.
You need to have the strength and dexterity to be able to pull the handle down, lift up on the door, remove it from its hinges and toss it aside. Assuming that this can even be accomplished by that elderly women who’s sitting closest to the exit door in seat 12A, do we expect her to lead us to safety? I don’t think so.
The door weighs something like 42 pounds. To be able to manipulate that kind of dead weight and throw it through the opening when chaos is enveloping us all requires a feat of extraordinary heroism. The importance of this shouldn’t be taken lightly as this is a duty that can only be accomplished by a select few:
- Those specially selected for their bravery and leadership skills, or
- Those who happen to find themselves randomly sitting in these seats, or
- Those that asked for the exit row at check-in so as to have a little more leg room.
According to my cursory scan of the safety pamphlet, the passengers who should be sitting there would also need to effectively assess the condition of the escape slide and perhaps inflate and stabilize it after deployment, allowing others to avoid serious injury and escape their otherwise certain death.
Who’s going to do that? Not me, because I haven’t been properly trained by the flight attendant in her pre-flight instructions to the exit row passengers. But there wasn’t anyone sitting in those seats to take on this monumental responsibility. There was no one there to verbally respond with a “yes” when asked if they were willing and able to save us all. Even more concerning is that she didn’t even bother to appeal to anyone else to step up and help out should our last hours be upon us.
Even if we assume one of the other passengers has been a former exit row sitter and is highly trained in opening the emergency exit door to lead us to safety, we can’t rely on them to take on that role again. These veterans have served their time.
This is something all nine of us who are currently flying over Lake Michigan should be concerned about and I hope I am not alone in demanding that American Airlines fix this serious safety lapse.
JB Goodbody frequently has thoughts in his head that makes him smile. Were they made public at the moment they poofed into existence, without some form of structured outlet such as satire, these thoughts would cause significant distress among his friends, family and coworkers. This is why he is here. 
I Have only once seen an older couple being removed from emergency exit row for their lack of ability to communicate in english. This was on a Swiss flight. Been annoyed plenty of times to enter the plane and see not so tall people sitting there. If people sit their and have to be reminded by the stewardess to put all luggage in the bin..they are not fit for these seats.
Ground staff should be trained how to assign those seats, also looking at how frequent a flyer someone is
Hmmm….Interesting. Sort of.
Why is the picture of a Southwest interior? WN doesn’t fly from ORD
You couldn’t find an interior picture of an AA plane?
Do you know how hard it is to find a picture of an empty exit row on the interweb? Good catch. Of course I could have changed the story to fit the picture. Never thought about looking at the faux leather.