September
18
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Exit Row Passenger Protocol
Emergency Exit Row Protocol
Everybody knows that if you sit in the emergency exit row you have to agree to the job of clearing the door out, and you need to be a certain age and understand instructions, and if you’re unhappy for any reason they will relocate you. But at dinner tonight the question came up about what is expected of you AFTER you have removed the exit door.
Let me involve you in a family argument. My wife felt that you were supposed to be the first out the emergency door. She falls solidly into the “I opened the door what more do you want from me” school of thought. On the other hand I have always thought that your job had just begun. I thought you were a kind of door deputy helper and you were supposed to stand on the wing or something and help the other passengers through the door, down the ramp, and safely out. It seemed to me that until the crew members formally dismissed you, you were an honorary crew member, admittedly a very low ranking one.
So what is it? Are you supposed to help or are you the first out?
Although Melanie is probably right from the perspective of getting out of the way and saving lives and all that there are some things more important than safety. So I would definitely go with the “deputized honorary flight attendant” approach. I think your job is to be well-groomed and to make the passengers feel good about the situation as they are escaping the inferno. After wrestling with and opening the door itself, where style and a sense of I-can-do-this calm are not THAT important (and I confess that for myself I am always afraid I am going to get clockwise and counter-clockwise reversed in those situations), then it is important to resume a professional demeanor, stand with good posture and thank each departing passenger with a “thank you for flying {insert name of soon-to-be-defunct airline here}” and also to think of something friendly (but brief) to say to the exiting children or maybe “enjoy your time not far from Oahu” or just anything which makes people think this is a normal situation. The fact that this is not quite clear to all exit row passengers is a concern for me. Maybe they could start issuing temporary flight attendant hats to exit row passengers during the classroom before each flight and retrieve them at the end. If there was an actual crash and you did a good job and actually survived yourself you could keep the hat! I bet that would make people pay better attention in class. I’m surprised they haven’t thought of this.
On behalf of the cabin crew and exit row deputies I’d like to be the first to welcome you to Not Far from Oahu where the local water temperature is 62. Your luggage should be floating up shortly.
I think you should be allowed to open the door and get out. You are going to be in a panicky state so you are unlikely to be of much use.
Personally I’m more concerned about the protocol for armrests http://acollectionofmusings.wordpress.com/2013/07/21/the-international-armrest-agreement/