bmibaby emergency exit seats
 

Travelled on bmibaby last weekend for the second time, and for the second time the over wing emergency exit seats were occupied by petite women.

Not bothered about getting the seats for myself, but surely there should be some limits on who can purchase the seats (£15 I think).

Would much prefer to see a butch person sitting there who hopefully could manhandle the exit hatch a little easier.

Just looking for others opinions.

Edit to say -

Not bothered that they were women - it's just a fact that they were, would also not have been that happy with petite men !

Those exits are pretty small...


WWW

and many of the cabin crew are petite females and they manage fine

"and many of the cabin crew are petite females and they manage fine"

But then they would understand the operation of the exits, and be trained and re-trained in how to open them, unlike the majority of pax.

Thanks for confirming bmibaby's policy. I won't be travelling on them now. An airline which charges money for the emergency exit seat is not safety orientated. If anyone can confirm carriers which do the same thing I'll be most grateful. Personally, I think the CAA should stamp on the practice.

WRT the "petite woman" situation, it would depend on the aircraft type. I believe bmibaby use older 737s, -500 models or similar? Remember in the Manchester fire, a yound lady was sat in the exit row seat and attempted to open the door. It fell in on top of her, trapping her & costing vital seconds in evacuating the aircraft. I know that was a 732 and changes may have been made, but "petite" cabin crew have been trained to use the doors. Petite SLF, male or female haven't & do not know how heavy/cumbersome said door is.

73NGs are not such a problem as the door remains attached to the aircraft and swings up, but bmibaby don't have these?

virgin blue (the airline, not the poster) does the same.

QUOTE]Thanks for confirming bmibaby's policy. I won't be travelling on them now. An airline which charges money for the emergency exit seat is not safety orientated. [/QUOTE]

Yup, absolutely outragous behaviour, but even more ridiculous is having to pay for other passenger seats as well!:hmm:

In what way not safety orientated? There are some restrictions as to whom can sit in the emergency exit rows - and as long as those restrictions aren't violated, and people are prepared to pay for them, what's the problem?

I can think of good reasons for not choosing to travel with a low cost airline - but that ain't one.

I watched the certification evacuations for the BAe ATP which has somewhat larger emergency overwing exits that the B737.

One very petite lady not only managed to open the exit and throw it out but nearly took the "catcher" off the wing, such was the force she was able to muster.

She was untrained in opening windows but had observed the emergency briefing as one would hope our fellow passengers have done.

MP;)

I think that you will find most charter airlines charge extra for exit rows, they justify the surcharge on the basis that they offer extra leg room.
I have no problem with airlines charging for the exit rows but I do think that the regulations on who can sit in the exits should be beefed up and more strictly enforced. I have seen people (both male and female) sitting in the exit rows that, in my opinion, are incapable of opening the exit doors easily and therefore putting the lives of others in jeopardy.
I have only opened an overwing exit once and found it far more strenuous than i expected.
And before anyone asks, i am 5'10", 90Kgs and am used to opening cabin doors.

I dont think its anything to do with how petite the person is who's sat there. its just another money making idea for a cheapo airline isn't it. Its like the £1.50 charged for tea and coffee, I doubt they've paid anywhere near that to buy it in the first place!

;)

Bmi Baby`s charge £15 charge for exit seats is just another way of pocketing a few extra quid for what is after all a legal requirement to have pax in these positions. I think you will find that the policy changes very slightly at 20 mins before close of check-in when, if nobody has paid the ransom, the seats are allocated freely. So if you have paid your £15 it`s quite possible you`re the only person who has.

As for the size of the person in the seat I`d rather see someone there that was gonna be out like a shot and not some lardy boy that can`t get out when it`s open.

Apparent physical strength is one thing but no-one can know how an untrained person will react in the face of a real emergency.

The person sitting by the exit might freeze in panic.

There is no way an airline can know this, nor even perhaps the person him/herself, until it actually happens.

Gentleman pays his extra money for emergency exit seat.

2 days before flight gentleman badly injures leg and is no longer able bodied.

Gentleman presents for flight and boards aircraft.

Gentleman is noticed to be hobbling down toward seat and told "Sorry, no seat for you!".

Gentleman kicks up mega fuss "I paid for seat! Stuff you I ain't moving".

Gentleman is shown error in his ways for what he has said and still refuses or demands on the spot refund, which isn't immediately available.

Gentleman locked up for Air-rage.

(Ok, I'm reaching a little, but this really p*sses me off. The emergency exit seats should be allocated on check in to able bodied pax!)

I seem to be missing something here. Is this thread about the safety aspects of who sits at the overwing exits or about bmi baby charging pax for extra leg room. Either way Ryanair and Easyjet have a free seating policy. How is this safer than bmi baby? Anyone can sit at the overwing for nothing and the crew can do very little about it without causing a riot. I think that your real problem is with having to pay for extra legroom. The charter carriers have being doing this for years and no-one has accused them of being unsafe. Is there any difference between a 737 charter flight to PMI or a 737 scheduled baby flight to PMI? I dont see anyone accusing excel pr astraeus of being unsafe just because people can pay extra money for extra legroom.

EAL401 - I presume you will now never be travelling on any of the Charter airlines either. Looks like the ferry or chunnel for you.

Time to grow up boys, this is not news just a malicious attempt to have a go at bmi baby. Get a life.

'Nuf said

Just for the record ( w.r.t. Monkey_Breath's previous submission ) .... Astraeus do not apply any additional charge for somebody wishing to sit in an emergency exit seat.

Indeed, to my knowledge, we have no way of pre-allocating seats ( other than 'first come first served' at the check-in desk ) albeit we do our best to facilitate special requests as made by the charterer of the aircraft.

I understood that the CAA were looking at this policy with some concern. The main reason wasn't so much the potential for unsuitable passengers to be seated in ABP rows, where I think there has to be some reliance on check-in staff and cabin crew to police this. Indeed, some tour operators selling extra legroom seats (Thomson is one, I think) state that if you pay for an exit seat but do not qualify through age or physical disposition, they won't refund you.

I had heard that the CAA's main concern was on less-than-full flights. If an airline is charging extra for legroom seats but there is no take-up, the seats adjacent to the exits are likely to remain empty as passengers are checked into other rows. In the event of an emergency on that flight, there is no able-bodied passenger sitting next to the door to be able to open it quickly and initiate the evacuation via that exit.

Crashdive is right, in that some airlines have deliberately not gone down this road. Long may it continue.

Not the case at all. Both have an FA on duty in the centre of the aircraft alongside the emergency exits during boarding who tells you as you take these seats what they are, checks you are within the parameters, and proceeds to give you the emergency exit briefing. So no riot.

Ryanair has always used distinctive yellow headrests on these seats which makes them stand out, far more than the emergency floor lighting changing colour from white to red at the exits - other airlines please note.

Noticeably these seats tend to be taken early on by what look like "regulars" making for them.

that's nothing. when my girlfriend and I flew back from prague to manchester with this company, the emergency exit seats were occupied by 2 completely p***ed blokes, who passed out for the whole journey! how they got on the plane is a wonder, never mind that they were then not moved!!

might i clarify that Bmibaby DO NOT charge for the overwing exits they only charge passengers for row 1 emergency exits seats where there is a fully qualified cabin crew member to operate the exit.

Some other airlines (Charter) now charge for there exits rows where there is a cabin crew member present.

The CAA also states that an abp is someone who is physically fit and over 14, where do they get that from i will never know!!!

i would like to have a 14 in charge of my life!

hope this clears a few things up, as for a prague- manchester, most of the poeple on those those flights are p***ed up so its quite hard to put sober poeple there when the beer is a rediculous 80p a pint i have heard!