Aircraft doors question

[Blues&twos]

Recently on an easyJet shorthaul flight on an Airbus 319 I noticed that hanging from the inside of the rear doors there were two long, conspicuous ribbons hanging down one from each of the doors (maybe attached to a pin of some sort?) with "REMOVE BEFORE FLIGHT" in red written down their length.

I noticed these still in place while we were in the cruise.

What were they likely to be for? Why should they have been removed before flight? What are the possible consequences if they're not?

:confused:

Cheers.

B&t

[CallBell]

Attached to the long red platic "ribbon" is a pin used to keep the slide arming handle in the DISARMED position when the aircraft is on stand, to prevent accidental slide deployment.
When the slides are armed the pin is removed from the door, the arming handle is pulled to ARMED section and the pin is stowed in a different hole in the door handle purely to keep it safe.
Usually crew would wrap the red ribbon in behind the door arm so passengers dont see the "remove before flight" and think that the crew have forgotten a safety procedure.
Hope this explains.

[Blues&twos]

Thanks CallBell! Yep, explains perfectly!