Originally Posted by estnet

Okay I'm not dumb. Yes I know the crash data, etc and am under no illusion about life vests saving my life BUT there are times it matters (if I was on the wing on the plane that landed in the Hudson i would have been happy to have a life vest).
The point I am trying to make, perhaps unsuccessfully, is that ATTENTION TO SAFETY ISSUES AND CORRECTION OF PROBLEMS from front line employees indicates the culture of the airline to me. On a UA flight where there was a minor issue about a life vest A DEAD HEADING PILOT took it upon themselves To attend to a minor issue (honestly I don't even know how they knew about it).

The comment about "play" in the seat is sort of uneducated - inability to stay in a locked position is not normal.

I cant know the important maintainence issues that go on behind the scenes which are of most concern to me, but if front line employees seem indifferent to safety issues it does make me wonder about the corporate view in general.