Age Limit for passenger who pays for emergency exit seat.

[Tee Emm]

Old ex Air Force engineer mate of mine paid $20 extra with Jetstar to sit in an emergency exit row to have more leg room. Gets to the aircraft and is shown his seat next to the emergency exit. Next minute, he is told by the FA that because he is old (he is over six feet tall and strong - but age 84) the rules require an able-bodied person to be seated next to the emergency exit.

Because the old bloke is regarded by the FA as not "able-bodied" he is shifted to a normal seat with precious little leg room. To add insult to injury no refund of his $20 is offered. He is a polite chap and didn't push it.
How does the cabin crew define "able-bodied"? Obviously a very arbitrary decision but I wonder at what age does a passenger fall into the category of "non-able bodied"?

Idea...why not carry a set of 30 kg dumbells on the aircraft and if you can't lift them above waist height you are not able-bodied and can't have the emergency exit window. . Might knock out a few flight attendants - who knows?.

[MakeItHappenCaptain]

On the other extreme, had an exit row seat coming back from TL a few years back. The other occupants were a gentleman and his 16yo daughter.

She had never flown and was so scared she was almost hysterical during the take-off.

[airsupport]

Well it certainly should NOT be an age limit, just whether or not the person is fit and healthy, and able and willing to carry out the duties should it be required.

I was travelling on a flight many years ago now where one of the flight attendants offered an emergency exit row window seat to a young guy with a broken leg so he would be more comfortable, a very nice gesture for sure, but hardly in the interests of safety.

[p.j.m]

I'd love to see the newpapers and TV channels pick up this story and run with it like they do with all the "disabled" people stories they run

after all this is clearly age discrimination and MUST be ILLEGAL!

[Old 'Un]

Airsupport: Unless things have changed in the last year or so, the requirement with at least some of the airlines here in NZ used to be that a person occupying the emergency exit row seat nearest the exit was supposed to be "able-bodied" and willing to take on the task of opening said exit if required.

Along with a bunch of other 'Dorises', I used to do some training work with newly-appointed CC, and remember well being "briefed" by CC when I was seated in the emergency exit seat on how to operate the exit. The same was done if I was sitting at the rear of the aircraft: If I happened to be the closest, I was briefed on opening the emergency exit there. (Onerous task this paxing) Yes, we tried to have at least a couple of non-able-bodied folk with us, so we could plant them in the exit rows to see what the CC would do.

And we were always asked during the training sessions if we would be willing to undertake the emergency exit-opening task if the need arose.

In real life, I have been asked and briefed accordingly if I have been sitting next to/closest to an emergency exit. (Seems like the training paid off.) The last time this occurred was about 18 months ago.

As far as the "many years ago" incident with the broken leg, that was a whole different ball game, before the world went safety conciousness mad (in many cases, at the expense of common sense).

Time for my meds, I think, before I get too hot under the collar.

Le Vieux

[Koizi]

Maybe one day they will offer the jump seat for an extra $50?

However, you must be "able-bodied" and willing to operate the controls if required.

Could I log that?

[18-Wheeler]

Slight side-track here ....
I always wondered how OneStar used to be legally able to do their free seating system, when they couldn't guarantee an able-bodied person was going to be in exit-row seat.

[sms777]

A few weeks ago on a flight back from Cooly on VB i was asked politely by CC that if i could seat next to a emergency exit because i looked more able-bodied than most of the pax around me. True story. And i am nowhere near as good looking as the guy that ditched the Westwind out of Norfolk recently.

[Kelly Slater]

Selling of emergency exit seats at a premium should be banned. Airline personal should be identified at some stage between seat purchace and check in. These are the people you would want at an emergency exit in an emergency, not someone who is too tall or too large and wants a bit more room. This is the cheapest insurance an airline can get, pity so few airlines around the world have this policy in place. How many people claim to be "able bodied" but really booked the extra leg room for some medical condition I wonder. As for a person in their 80s, who could blame a Cabin Crew member for making a judgement call and moving him. I would want him moved. Having said that, he should not sit back meakly and accept it, he should make a fuss and at the very least, get his $20 back. He should not have been sold the seat in the first place. Processes must be in place to ensure that only suitable people can buy these seats. I'm not saying that the gentleman in question wasn't capable but I rather just not take the chance on someone so far along in life.

[FireBatHero]

In defence of the cabin crew, I would think the ordinary person would take one look at an eighty-four year old passenger and deem him/her not as capable as say a thirty year old.

The twenty should have been paid back though.

[ace4bar's girlfriend]

Hey, it's one thing ensuring the pax occupying the exit seats are able-bodied but what about people occupying these seats and then proceeding to hit the piss!!!!!

Whats the go there

[airsupport]

As far as the "many years ago" incident with the broken leg, that was a whole different ball game, before the world went safety conciousness mad (in many cases, at the expense of common sense).

Yes this was before they started coming around and asking if you were able and prepared to operate the exit, and as I said the hostie was trying to be kind to someone, but she was NOT thinking about the danger she could have been putting us all in by doing it.