KurtVH

Please reread what I posted. The over-the-top example was to establish that there are crew instructions you would not have to follow. Those were not provided as a direct comparison to the crew instruction in the OP. I said the instructions as told by the OP were close to being unreasonable; not close to the examples I provided (which were very clearly tongue-in-cheek).

sirdatary

If the FA was, in fact, being a "stickler," there are much more appropriate and effective ways of accomplishing the same goal.

I'm not completely with either the FA or the OP on this, but in addition to improving safety, one of the FA's primary responsibilities is to provide good customer service. Those two responsibilities are not mutually exclusive.

The OP clearly got under the FA's skin, and the FA dealt with it poorly.

emma69

Is it really not intuitive to throw the door out of the aircraft? I'd think that was the obvious route - otherwise there is going to be a door in the way of everyone exiting the aircraft?

kipper

Likewise, to me, it makes more sense to push something out of the way, rather than try to pull it towards me.

You want to go where?

You would be amazed at how many times the intuitive answer isn't the one that people actually select.

Wally Bird

That's exactly the reason. It's probably obvious to do so to frequent flyers or anyone with a modicum of intelligence. How often are exit rows occupied by those people though?

DeaconFlyer

Several airplanes have exit doors that are NOT supposed to be thrown out, but instead laid down on the armrests. That's why its important to at least glance at the instructions while you're in the Exit Row.

Eye of Storm

I almost always sit in the exit row, except when on a regional jet. Nowadays I simply remove the card and hold it prominently in my hand until the FA comes by with the exit row questions. This usually placates the officious FA who demands card removal. I'm amused by the FAs who demand the verbal "yes" but then don't actually listen for it.

Once (thankfully just once so far) an FA took great offense at the fact that I had the card open but was reading a section different from exactly what she wanted me to read at that very moment. I looked at her and asked calmly, "it isn't okay if I read the whole card?" Well, that upset her. She announced that she would return to my row when I was reading the exact part of the card that she wanted me to read. Sure enough, she did.

It's been covered in other threads, but I'll ask it again here. I wonder why, if it's so critical that the person in the exit row be briefed in great detail, that it's okay in some cases for NOBODY to be sitting in the exit row, at least on US-based airlines. If this happens, and if there's an emergency necessitating use of the exit row functions, then one of many near-random people from another row will get there first. Presumably few of those people have read the card, and none of them have been briefed with the verbal "yes" and so on.

emma69

I was asked a couple of weeks ago to move to an 'empty' emergency row (obviously it wasn't once I moved!) on a US carrier. Wonder what the logic is as to when they move and when they don't move?

Eye of Storm

Perhaps it's entirely up to the individual FA to ask and not mandated by any rule. If I were a FA, I think I'd be happier knowing that someone who appears to be capable was in the exit row, rather than leaving it to chance which nearby non-exit-row passenger would get there first in case of emergency.

Of course, this would still leave open the question of why appropriate exit row occupancy isn't mandated by rule!

Schmurrr

I have seen that, too.

I'm not worried about getting a 50 lb door out of my way. My checked bag usually weighs about that much.

Wally Bird

There is a regulation (14 CFR 121.585) governing who may occupy an exit row, but nothing saying the row must be occupied.

Like many FARs it seems to be up to the airline/crew, which seems to me to negate the whole point of a regulation .

medic51vrf

So do most peoples' carry ons these days!

medic51vrf

When I Google "pointless comment" I get 87 MILLION hits.

jsmeeker

I've only ever been quizzed for real one time. FA asked what I should do if there was a fire outside the exit.

I best good money the vast majority of frequent flyers have never ever opened up an emergency exit door. I haven't. As others stated, they don't all work the same. Sometimes, the card tells you to leave the door on the seat. Ohter times, it tells you to toss it out. Some doors don't event come off the plane. It's all different. But that's what the card and placard is for. No reason to guess or assume or do what is "intuitive"