Originally Posted by
QUERY
Recently, my brother and I were on a SWA flight landing in MCI. The seat belt sign was already on. We taxied to the gate but the pilot announced it would be a few minutes as the gate was made available. He stated for the passengers to keep the seat belts on. This woman stood and headed for the aft bathroom. The FA told her she had to return to her seat because the seat belt sign was on. She smiled at the FA and continued to the bathroom unrestricted. She came out like 10 minutes later and we finally proceeded to the gate. My brother said the pilot could not proceed to the gate until all passengers were seated. Never heard of that. Any truth in that?
That is left up to the captain. If someone gets up, we are not supposed to move the aircraft. If someone gets up while we're already taxiing, I'm not going to slam on the brakes and send them flying (although it might be a funny sight for some FTer's
) So if he was parked, then yes, he would wait until the passenger came back out. If I have to move just a short distance, I MAY move the jet a little, but I won't go taxiing with someone up.
Again, has to do with risk/reward. Taxiing with someone up has little reward, just getting to the gate or staying in line maybe. But the down sides are potential injury, or getting harrassed by an FAA inspector (FA's have been fined for letting folks up with the SB sign on which is why some are a lot more strict than others).
Originally Posted by
Yaatri
That's what is supposed to happen. But there was a post here on FT when a person said their seat was soaking wet with "P" when they sat down. The occupant of the seat on the previous flight must not have reported it to the FA and cleaning crew either missed it or didn't bother to take any action.
All you can do there is report it and get a new seat. Obviously it wasn't reported and the cleaners didn't notice it (and they never do, they run through a plane in like 5 minutes just picking up big pieces of trash).
AD