Originally Posted by
Noxegon
Do we really, in this day and age, need to explain to passengers how to buckle and unbuckle a seat belt?.
I suspect that particular bit of the briefing is there based on having observed real world behavior in real emergencies and training simulations. Most passengers use an automobile seat belt every single day, and an aircraft seatbelt a couple of times a year at most. Automobile seatbelts are standardized one way: to release, feel for the inboard end and push the button. Airplane seatbelts are standardized a different way: to release, feel for the center buckle and lift up on the flap. I suspect that in the dark, in the smoke, in a panic, large numbers of people on an aircraft are going to waste precious seconds with their hands down by their hips feeling around for an automobile-style belt release button that isn't there. The fact that we all remember "lift up on the flap" even though we don't happen to be seated in an aircraft at the moment is testament to repeated (ad nauseam) briefings leading to good recall.