Exit Row Requirements - A interesting experience
 

It's Wednesday Afternoon in San Diego, waiting to board flight 940 to Phoenix. They call preboards and a long line of folks head toward the plane. While those folks are still being checked at the door they call first class and I get in line. The couple in front of me (preboards - anybody needing extra time!) includes a woman with a soft cast on her foot who is limping badly and moving really slow. Her boarding pass gets scanned and the machine beeps - its an exit row seat. The GA asks if she knows she is in an exit row and the woman responds yes; GA looks at her foot, asks if she wants another seat. Woman says no, GA shrugs and lets her board.

Now I have no idea if the FA on board took a harder line since I was in FC but it does strike me that anybody who claims they need extra time time in boarding should automatically be excluded from the exit row qualifications.

Anybody else have similar experiences?

I had to change a flight last weeek, last minute; lost my F seat. Didn't get exit, sat right behind the exit row. There was a couple in the exit row in front of me that had to be at least 90+ years, and the husband didn't hear very well. The FA came by and asked them the exit row questions, they said yes and that was that. Scary.....

On one of my flights Tuesday, there was a father with his 3 or 4 year old daughter in the exit row. The flight was totally full, and the flight attendent asked a couple people in another row to switch places with them.

In both situations the f/a was wrong! Speak up as unfortunately some f/a's are just stupid. I would NEVER let a really old person sit at the exit row, must less someone with a cast!

I haven't had a similar experiences that I can recall. However, I agree, if the person requires extra time getting down the jetway, there's no way they should be allowed to sit in an exit row.

I for one would certainly speak up. It might earn me some stern looks from those pax but I don't care. I want an able body or two in exit row.

I was sitting the row behind the exit row with my wife about 3 weeks ago. In the exit row was a mother with her 8 year old daughter. The FA came and said the girl couldn't sit in the exit row. Mother argued something fierce saying she wouldn't move, then tried to move her 13 year old son (who was further up the plane) to switch with her daughter, but he was still too young.

The mother really was putting up a fuss and did not want to give up her seat (the window exit on a 319 with its 20 feet of legroom.) I looked at the FA and said my wife and I were traveling together and would trade with the pax and her daughter. After much cajoling (and some tears from the daughter who didn't want to sit away from mom...) she agreed to switch. She was so mad at the FA that I could see the complaint letter being formed in her mind. The FA for her part was VERY professional and very appreciative of the offer to help (she offered us a free drink, alas, we don't drink.)

99% of the time when I've seen something like the OP saw the FA has stepped in and done something. I've often heard FAs say that they want to be careful about who is in "their exit row" because they know it's those people who may be important in an emergency. However, some people will go to any length to keep their prime seat (or get it - more than once I've caught a squatter in my exit row seat - but that's another thread...)

I always thought you could only get these seats the day of the flight so the agent knows who is in the exit row. Had the lady with the baby got smart with me, I would tell her either she moves or I move off the plane. If I go, nobody goes.

It's just bulkhead row seats that are held until the day of departure (or the 24-hour check-in time, I don't remember which). Exit row seats (as long as they aren't bulkhead also) are available all along.

US Preferred can pre-book exit rows and do OLCI (though they're supposed to agree to the rules for exit row before they get it...)

I was on PHX - IND last week in the exit row and the F/A reseated a pax who did not understand English well enough to respond the the exit row briefing. My experience has been that the F/As do a really good job on making sure everyone in the row(s) are able to meet the requirements.

I believe that only Preferreds have exit-row access prior to the 24-hour window, after which time anyone can book them (non-Preferreds pay a fee).

The woman who booked exit-row seats with her little kid likely knew that the daughter was too young.

Say we are in bizarro-world and no one is seated in the exit row. Will they make someone move to the exit row to make sure that there is someone seated there?

I've only seen this happen once and they didn't make us move. Of course there were only two (!!!) of us on the plane, a CRJ, so it didn't matter too much anyway. I'm wondering what would happen if there more people on the plane though and no one was seated in the exit row.

It is simple. As far as I know FA has the authority to move someone from exit seat if they feel they can't perform the duty. If they resist I am sure that a call to airport security would square it away and pax hauled off the plane and hopefully thrown to jail for trying to resist enforcing FAA rules.

If noone fits the criteria for an exit seat then noone should be sitting there. Even if flight is choke full and people on stand-by if noone meets the criteria they can't sit there.