Exit Row With Underage Child in Reservation
#31
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#32
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: DAY/CMH
Programs: UA MileagePlus
Posts: 2,474
FAs begin barking instructions, focusing on passengers in exit rows. "You there! Open the exit door over the left wing, throw it out onto the wing, and step outside right now!"
You're the one who has to follow these instructions. Can you leave your wife and 13-year-old in the airplane?
Last edited by ajGoes; Aug 14, 2017 at 10:49 am
#33
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So here are the 2 questions I have to you.
A) When the kid was 8, if there was a true emergency and you were instructed to open the door and exit, would you do so leaving the kid behind?
B) Can you really expect an airline to assume parents, in general, would follow the instruction to exit?
Do you realize how much it could delay exiting of the parent at the emergency exit decides they need get the kid?
A) When the kid was 8, if there was a true emergency and you were instructed to open the door and exit, would you do so leaving the kid behind?
B) Can you really expect an airline to assume parents, in general, would follow the instruction to exit?
Do you realize how much it could delay exiting of the parent at the emergency exit decides they need get the kid?
On the basis you are stating then on school excursions if there is an emergency evacuation from a bus you would have the same issues and I can assure you that at 12/13/14 no child wishes to be anywhere near their parent when other kids were around. To answer your other question, yes I would act in the interest of all.
FWIW - when he was 14, on non-US flights (as noted above) we would both sit in the exit row.
Stretch your imagination and put yourself in the following scenario. Your family is seated as you describe. The flight goes fine until, on landing, the airplane strikes another plane that has intruded onto the runway. The cabin begins to fill with smoke as the pilot brings the severely damaged plane to a halt.
FAs begin barking instructions, focusing on passengers in exit rows. "You there! Open the exit door over the left wing, throw it out onto the wing, and step outside right now!"
You're the one who has to follow these instructions. Can you leave your wife and 13-year-old in the airplane?
FAs begin barking instructions, focusing on passengers in exit rows. "You there! Open the exit door over the left wing, throw it out onto the wing, and step outside right now!"
You're the one who has to follow these instructions. Can you leave your wife and 13-year-old in the airplane?
Your argument then must go when families are seating in different rows all through the plane, then instead of making an orderly exit they will try to get to the other family members.
Last edited by WineCountryUA; Aug 14, 2017 at 11:52 am Reason: merging consecutive posts by same member; please use multi-quote
#34
Join Date: Jul 2013
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He could be distracted by concern for both his wife and his daughter. Most fathers would find it extremely difficult to flee to safety while leaving their family in peril.
#37
Join Date: Oct 2015
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As someone who enjoys the extra room in the exit row, I would happily have this rule for uniformed military personnel.
#38
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First off, it sounds like UA has the same policy as AA,
which makes the OP ineligible for the exit row if he's traveling with an ineligible passenger.
So where should the disabled (temporary or permanently) sit in order to "stay out of everyone's way" while all the able-bodied passengers evacuate?
Assuming he had hands and arms and normal upper-body strength and motion, he may have been capable of opening the door. That would have been required had something happened to you and your wife that prevented you from opening the door.
You mentioned that you and your wife would have been fine, but that passengers behind him "would not." Why is that? Is it that he would have held up the evacuation because of his slow movement? That's the case with every passenger who has limited mobility. Should they be seated in seats that are likely to be the last passengers to get out so that they don't impede the progress of the able-bodied?
In the aisle seat, he was about 40 inches from the hatch. Even if he was slower than normal, it doesn't take very long to move 40 inches.
which makes the OP ineligible for the exit row if he's traveling with an ineligible passenger.
The gentleman in the aisle seat was recovering from a recent knee replacement and had minimal mobility. We would have been fine in an evacuation, but the folks behind him would not. In a perfect world, they would verify that pax in the exit row are physically capable of lifting and removing the door.
I realize that won't happen any time soon.
I realize that won't happen any time soon.
Assuming he had hands and arms and normal upper-body strength and motion, he may have been capable of opening the door. That would have been required had something happened to you and your wife that prevented you from opening the door.
You mentioned that you and your wife would have been fine, but that passengers behind him "would not." Why is that? Is it that he would have held up the evacuation because of his slow movement? That's the case with every passenger who has limited mobility. Should they be seated in seats that are likely to be the last passengers to get out so that they don't impede the progress of the able-bodied?
In the aisle seat, he was about 40 inches from the hatch. Even if he was slower than normal, it doesn't take very long to move 40 inches.
#39
Join Date: Oct 2015
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Here's United's popup;... [LIST][*]Be at least 15 years of age and able to perform all of the functions listed below without assistance.[*]Not be traveling with: a customer who requires special care, such as a small child; __________________________________________________ _________
I suppose the real question would be who determines who is a small child and who gets to determine whether a 14 y/o kid is too small? My feeling is that children 12/13/14 would not be considered as SMALL, but then there are F/A's that make their own rules, don't ya know!!!
[/B]
I suppose the real question would be who determines who is a small child and who gets to determine whether a 14 y/o kid is too small? My feeling is that children 12/13/14 would not be considered as SMALL, but then there are F/A's that make their own rules, don't ya know!!!
[/B]
As for the 15 cut-off it could be lower if the 12/13/14 year old is strong enough but most of them have not yet developed the muscles to remove the door in an emergency, and have probably not yet developed the height such that adults in an emergency may try to trample them in getting the door removed. So I understand the 15 year old cut-off.
So OP should be fine based on the UA rules, as I understand them.
#40
Join Date: May 2003
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First off, it sounds like UA has the same policy as AA,
which makes the OP ineligible for the exit row if he's traveling with an ineligible passenger.
So where should the disabled (temporary or permanently) sit in order to "stay out of everyone's way" while all the able-bodied passengers evacuate?
Assuming he had hands and arms and normal upper-body strength and motion, he may have been capable of opening the door. That would have been required had something happened to you and your wife that prevented you from opening the door.
You mentioned that you and your wife would have been fine, but that passengers behind him "would not." Why is that? Is it that he would have held up the evacuation because of his slow movement? That's the case with every passenger who has limited mobility. Should they be seated in seats that are likely to be the last passengers to get out so that they don't impede the progress of the able-bodied?
In the aisle seat, he was about 40 inches from the hatch. Even if he was slower than normal, it doesn't take very long to move 40 inches.
which makes the OP ineligible for the exit row if he's traveling with an ineligible passenger.
So where should the disabled (temporary or permanently) sit in order to "stay out of everyone's way" while all the able-bodied passengers evacuate?
Assuming he had hands and arms and normal upper-body strength and motion, he may have been capable of opening the door. That would have been required had something happened to you and your wife that prevented you from opening the door.
You mentioned that you and your wife would have been fine, but that passengers behind him "would not." Why is that? Is it that he would have held up the evacuation because of his slow movement? That's the case with every passenger who has limited mobility. Should they be seated in seats that are likely to be the last passengers to get out so that they don't impede the progress of the able-bodied?
In the aisle seat, he was about 40 inches from the hatch. Even if he was slower than normal, it doesn't take very long to move 40 inches.
While there may be disabled people who would be perfectly able to help AND assist... I doubt they are the same folks taking advantage of the extra time to board.
IMO, those two conditions should be mutually exclusive. You are either fit enough to help in an evacuation (and board like everyone else), or too infirm for both and need extra time.
#41
Join Date: Mar 2006
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The rule, whether unwritten (or written I really don't know) was First On Last Off. What would have really happened had an emergency ever occurred is unknown but material for many parental nightmares nonetheless.
#42
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: Houston, TX
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Posts: 416
Once several years ago on a UA flight I was in an exit row seat, with my wife and son a few rows away (he was maybe 5 years old at the time). When the FA realized that my son was on the same plane, I was booted from the exit row. The explanation given: in an emergency, they want to be sure my first thought was following crew instructions, and not making sure my son was safe.
This sounded reasonable, and I've never tried to book an exit row seat with my son on the plane again.
I don't think it would matter wether a child was 5 or 12; a parent's first thought in an emergency is going to be the child's well being. It'd make a parent of an underage child a pretty poor steward of the emergency exit.
This sounded reasonable, and I've never tried to book an exit row seat with my son on the plane again.
I don't think it would matter wether a child was 5 or 12; a parent's first thought in an emergency is going to be the child's well being. It'd make a parent of an underage child a pretty poor steward of the emergency exit.
#43
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Given that criterion, wouldn't deadheading and/or commuting airline crew (any airline) be even better prepared to 'man' (or 'woman') the exit row in an emergency?
#44
Join Date: Aug 2017
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#45
Join Date: Jan 2016
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When I've been in the exit row, they have often been my seat mates. I don't have an issue with that. I don't have an issue with them always having the exit rows. I think it's something that shouldn't be about status or payment. It should be about safety.