Airtravel safety tips.

[flyinlow]

A few tips I have picked up over three decades of air travel and piloting. These are just my own  thoughts.

Planning:

Read the safety card, you never know when there will be a pop quiz.
Know where the exits are.
Wear light colored cotton .wool or linen clothes. They help reflect heat and do not melt like synthetics. They make it easier for rescue workers to see you.
Don't be drunk or drugged.


When things go wrong:

Stop screaming, if applicable.
Follow the intructions of Unformed crewmembers, an evacuation is not always necessary or the safest course.
If the crewmembers are incapacitated and you decide that safety requires that you get out, follow the white emergency floor track lights to the red ones located by the exits.
Cooler, cleaner air is near the floor. Every Cub Scout knows that.
Leave you personal items on the plane. When they certify airliners for evacuation they use an aircraft full of teenagers wearing Nike's and kneepads. They practice until everyone gets out in under two minutes. If you try to drag your refrigerator box size carry on with you , people might die.
Your seat cushion floats, can be used to push on hot things, can be used as a shield, can be used as a head rest or to elevate an injured persons legs.
Is the exit safe? Underwater? fire outside? In front of a still running engine?
Once out, try to group everyone up, away from the aircraft, upwind if possible to avoid smoke and fumes.

[Dino]

Very good tips, thank you for doing that.   

I'm flying next month...to SF...yeah...

[stripedelete]

Good stuff.

I saw a documentary once on crash survivors.  It seemed to boil down to: 1) Count the number of seats you need to crawl over to get to the exit (because the aisle will be impassible and you will not be able to see),  2) crawl over or through anyone in your way (if you want to be a survivor). 

[twodko]

Staying calm is staying alive.

[Daytona R/T SE]

Or...

Stay the Hell off the F%#&ing things.

[charge69]

I will 2nd Daytona's emotion !  I am a retired Air Traffic Controller and I try my absolute best to drive instead of fly!  YMMV

[flyinlow]

Staying calm is staying alive.

I agree.

[ACUDANUT]

Good stuff.

I saw a documentary once on crash survivors.  It seemed to boil down to: 1) Count the number of seats you need to crawl over to get to the exit (because the aisle will be impassible and you will not be able to see),  2) crawl over or through anyone in your way (if you want to be a survivor). 

Stay and Help the Children and Women exit off 1st.

[stripedelete]

Good stuff.

I saw a documentary once on crash survivors.  It seemed to boil down to: 1) Count the number of seats you need to crawl over to get to the exit (because the aisle will be impassible and you will not be able to see),  2) crawl over or through anyone in your way (if you want to be a survivor). 

Stay and Help the Children and Women exit off 1st.

Again, this was advice of the crash survivors.   

[XS29L]

I like to travel by MOPAR , it's much more fun !

[A383Wing]

we just "fly low".....and the "in flight" movie sucks

[mrsskip68]

My son flies Saturday, so with reading this and seeing the recent crash on tv, i'm a ball of nerves! 

[flyinlow]

My son flies Saturday, so with reading this and seeing the recent crash on tv, i'm a ball of nerves! 

Sorry, not my intent to make passengers nervous. Just a few tips to possibly help in the very,very rare chance you are in an accident.

If you drove a brand new car with perfect tires and your seatbelt fastened on a sunny day on a deserted interstate after you got a goodnight sleep and you where a thirty year old experienced driver , you could not come close to the safety level Airlines routinely generate .

[green69rt]

I've kind of giving up flying.  I used to fly when I was working because of time constraints but now we drive.  Not so much for safety but it seems like the airlines are more and more predatory.  Bad service and a take-it-or-leave-it attitude.  Who would put up with that if they didn't need to??

[flyinlow]

Free market. Passengers ultimately set the service levels. I would like to give you all  lay flat seats, caviar , and a personal Valet on each flight. Will you pay for it?

[green69rt]

I would fly more but who can figure out the cost....  If you had to buy a gallon of paint and the store said if you buy it 3 weeks ahead of time you would get 20% off or go to a web site and get 10% off if you pay now and forfeit your rights or ....wait, buy today with no refund option or transfer options but you cannot specify the color or the can may leak but that's your problem ....to many rules and conditions!!!  Just sell me a can of paint or a airline ticket and let me get on with my life!!!  Oh, and when you pick up the paint there is a surcharge for paint sticks, or to get the paint mixed, can you imagine of the whole world ran like airlines!!!


One of my pet peeves, but not sorry for the rant.

[flyinlow]

Believe me ,I have heard similar complaints before.

Marketing demographics say that over 80% of our customers are  using low price as their primary concern. I would have made good value my first choice.
Airlines reduce the services to a basic level to cut cost and then add surcharges for meals, checked bags ,etc.  This frustrates some passingers  who have expectations of service levels that where standard in the past.
The basic seat pricing is supply and demand. If you buy early prices are lower. As the flight fills up, prices rise, and then sometimes if the flight is not full enough ,shortly before the flight day we discount again to fill empty seats. How much competition there is and if we are trying to increase market share can modify this.
Airline employees are asked to do more with less every year. This is just business. Taking that out on the customer would  be shortsighted. Sometimes the answer to your request is no, but you can not have an attitude about it.


I prefer to compare airlines to the Heath care and Cell phone industries ,which makes us look logical and efficient. 

[Dino]

I'm in health care...you're not wrong.  Logic seems real absent these days in many things.

[AKcharger]

Hooray for airlines!

[green69rt]

Now that my rant is over I have to say that a lot of the people in the airlines really try to do the right thing.  They work as hard to do a good Job as anyone.   Sometime the company policy just gets in the way....