May I expand this thread slightly, by raising another point regarding those who occupy 'emergency exit' seats?
A couple of weeks ago I flew to Washington and requested an emergency exit seat. I explained that I was ex RAF and was familiar with the door operation etc. and happy to accept the responsibility, only to be told that all of those seats had been pre booked (usually by Gold card holders)
Thats fair enough, and I don't fly that often really, so I can understand why these passengers having priority over myself for seating choice. What I was concerned about however, is that one of the emergency exit seats was occupied by a very elderly couple and another emergency exit was occupied by a couple who barely spoke english!
Yesterday, I returned to the UK with the same airline and the very same thing happened. Emergency exit seats occupied by people who, IMHO, would have been unable or unfit (or both) to have operated the doors in an emergency.
I have raised this question on PPrune before, and I have raised it with the airline concerned, and was assured by them that it should NOT happen, and the airline would investigate and get back to me (they didn't!) They also assured me that these seats were NOT pre-bookable, and were allocated on the day of flight and only after the check-in staff were satisfied that those who would be occupying the seats were 'fit and able'
As Pontius Navigator and others have stated, I have never ever seen anyone being given a briefing on the operation of the doors, and whenever I have had the good fortune to be seated there, I have never been given a briefing either.
Several years ago, an aquantance of mine was badly injured in the aircraft that caught fire during take off at Manchester. One of the things he told me about was the delay at getting the emergency escape hatches opened once the evacuation call had been made.
matblack: I'm sorry to tell you that, on this occasion, I flew with ...........................................BA!
theskyboy: 'Just because passengers haven't been briefed on the operation of an overwing exit, doesn't mean they wouldn't be able to open them' That may well be true as far as getting the door open is concerned (eventually), but when seconds count, I would suggest to you that actually, it DOES matter a lot.
Maybe someone from the CAA or FAA might like to comment as to the 'official position' regarding the occupants of emergency exit seats?
TKR