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Old Nov 8, 2011 | 7:23 am
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CaptainMiles
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Apparent lax cabin safety

Recently I took a CO TATL flight where I observed unusually relaxed safety procedures about emergency exits. I don't know whether I am overthinking this, so you guys tell me your opinions.

I was sitting in an exit row, window seat. Here are the problems I observed.
  1. While still on the ground, I pointed out to a FA that my AVOD was not working. She reset it. It was still rebooting when they played the safety video, so I, sitting in exit row, did not have the opportunity to watch the safety video on my screen. (I did watch through my neighbor's screen)
  2. Next to me sat a young teen. He did not appear to be 15 yo (the minimum age to seat in an exit row), but I did not know it. I thought surely the cabin crew would ask him during the pre-takeoff safety briefing at the exit row. However, that briefing never happened.
  3. While serving the meal, a FA asked the teen his age. He said 13. She was visibly worried, and relayed that info to 2 other FAs. I thought surely they would remove the teen prior to landing. However, that did not happen, and the 13yo landed in the exit row.
At the end of the flight I communicated my observations to the captain and the cabin lead. The captain seemed genuinely concerned. The cabin lead had explanations for what happened. I thought his explanations were lame, but what do I know. His explanations:
  1. "You could have watched the safety video from your neighbor's screen, which you did, so no problem there."
  2. As for the lack of a safety briefing at the exit row, "I thought they did the briefing at your row. I sure did the briefing at my row. Are you sure you were not asleep or distracted when they did the briefing?" That does not seem like a good excuse. If I was asleep they should have awakened me to ask if I was willing and able to assist. They always ask. Not this time.
  3. As for letting the 13 year-old sit in the exit row after knowing he was under age, he said they asked the parents who were sitting further back, and the parents told them the kid was 15 but did not speak good English, and that was the reason he answered wrong. I told him if you have conflicting info about age you should ask to see ID to clear it up. He told me kids are not required to carry ID. I told him they are, this is an international flight and everyone has passports. He then said he has to take people's word for it, because if he asked for ID he would be implicitly calling them liars. Then I said that another requirement to sit in the exit row is to understand and speak English. He had evidence, introduced by the parents, that the kid did not speak enough English to understand a simple question about his age, so he should have removed the kid on those grounds. He said they can't, because the kid spoke some english, and who is to say what is enough english to sit there. He says people pay more for these preferred seats, and would get really mad if moved from them. He gave an example "if I see someone limping down the aisle, I can't tell them they aren't quite fit to sit there, what if they paid extra for that seat?"
What do you guys think? Did I do well to bring it to the captain and the lead FA's attention, or was I too paranoid? Or did I not do enough, and should report to CO and/or the FAA?
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