O/W exits... pleasure or pain...
I fully respect all my fellow crew members when giving these briefings, and believe that at all times you should stress the importance of these emergency exit seats, with the added bonus of extra leg room of course (which a lot of charter airlines in the UK charge you for the luxury of!)
I appreciate that this may belong in another thread perhaps... However I find it so frustrating when you try to explain to someone during boarding about their importance, why bags can't be on the floor etc and you end up with, basically an argument on your hands...
An example that happened to me quite recently...
Boeing 757-300 situated at the overwings for boarding...
pax "My seat doesn't recline..." (An "excuse me" or "hello" might have been nice)
me "Unfortunately sir, due to the design of these seats, and as not to obstruct the exit (gesturing to it) these seats do have a very limited recline..." (there is some movement, albeit not a lot)
pax "Well, thats not good enough, I paid for an extra leg room seat!"
me "You have an extra leg room seat sir, you may be able to tell from the rows you have walked past that you have considerably more leg room..."
pax "BUT I PAID FOR EXTRA LEG ROOM! MY SEAT DOESNT RECLINE!"
me"You have extra leg room sir, I can do my best to ask someone else to move you if you would prefer a seat that would recline"
pax "Is it extra leg room?"
me "I'm afraid not... Those seats come at a higher cost than these (trying to be humurous)
pax "A normal seat then?" (humour didn't work)
me" Which reclines sir... If that's what you would like?"
pax "AND YOU WILL GIVE ME A REFUND??? (Raising his voice)"
me "I will gladly give you the details of how to get a refund sir"
pax "I WANT A REFUND FROM YOU, NOW!"
me "As you did not purchase the extra leg room seat on board sir, I'm afraid I'm not authorised to refund you..."
I could go on and on with the to and fro regarding the hand baggage on the floor, the coats on the laps etc etc... and the only retort was "I PAID FOR AN EXTRA LEG ROOM SEAT!!!"
The safety demonstration (both video and manual) for my current airline states that we have a zero tolerance policy... I wish we could include it in the boarding PA!
"Ladies and gentleman, the primary concern of the cabin crew onboard today is your safety..."
I think this notion is getting lost over time... delivering outstanding service, immaculate crew and sweet smiles are all part and parcel of why people are crew... Safety is not negotiable... unfortunately in that instance, I did move the chap in question, mainly because his wife told me she "didn't do responisbility" ... and ok, I may have got a little satisfaction from it, but joe public seem to be pushing the boundaries more and more regarding the role of crew on board....
Sorry, rant over...
BoB