Consider the exit-row seat, that prize catch of the frequent-flying business traveler because it offers extra legroom.
Getting first dibs on exit-row seats in coach cabins has long been one of the top perks for passengers in elite-status programs, which typically allow members to reserve those seats, if available, when they make online reservations. Without extra charge.
Lately, though, those three words — without extra charge — seem to rankle the airlines, as they take services that used to be part of the basic fare and slap extra fees on them. In the third quarter of 2009, the top 10 domestic airlines raised an extra $1.95 billion from fees for things like checking bags and allowing passengers to change reservations, the Bureau of Transportation Statistics has reported.
Consider the exit-row seat, that prize catch of the frequent-flying business traveler because it offers extra legroom.
Getting first dibs on exit-row seats in coach cabins has long been one of the top perks for passengers in elite-status programs, which typically allow members to reserve those seats, if available, when they make online reservations. Without extra charge.
Lately, though, those three words — without extra charge — seem to rankle the airlines, as they take services that used to be part of the basic fare and slap extra fees on them. In the third quarter of 2009, the top 10 domestic airlines raised an extra $1.95 billion from fees for things like checking bags and allowing passengers to change reservations, the Bureau of Transportation Statistics has reported.
Evacuation is the sole purpose of the exit rows, which abut emergency doors. So in selling exit-row seats to all comers, airlines may raise concerns about who, exactly, is sitting in those seats — and whether they are able to perform the specified emergency duties, chief among them that they have “sufficient mobility, strength or dexterity” to open the emergency door and help with the evacuation.
The Federal Aviation Administration has, somewhat clumsily, been tightening up various cabin safety procedures. I say sometimes clumsily because of the situation where some airlines were overreacting to vaguely worded FAA safety directives and forbidding passengers to put anything in seatback pockets. The agency subsequently explained that it meant only unreasonably bulky objects.
Exit rows are a more serious matter. Exit-row seats have usually been occupied by frequent fliers who often booked them in advance, free, as perks. “The presumption has been loosely that elite fliers at least had the experience to know what the drill is in an emergency, which is basically that you have to be prepared to get that door popped open,” said Joe Brancatelli, who publishes the subscription business-travel Web site Joesentme.com.
Fourteen months ago, when US Airways Flight 1549 ditched in the Hudson River with no serious injuries to those onboard, exit-row emergency procedures suddenly became more than an abstraction to airlines and to regulators.
The issue may have legal ramifications, too. An airline is responsible for determining that anyone occupying an exit row be able to understand and perform emergencies procedures. But there is also a legal school of thought that passengers may be held liable for damages if they accept an exit-row seat and subsequently are unable or unprepared to perform the duties. These duties are briefly summarized on in-seat cards, but laid out in four pages of detail in FAA regulations.
As airlines toss the exit rows into the for-sale bin, these questions could become more urgent. As usual, it’s going to be up to the overburdened flight attendant to decide who does or does not meet the criteria.
No matter how that prize seat with extra legroom was obtained, “If someone is unable to perform the duties of sitting in an exit row, they will be reseated” and will get a refund if they paid a fee for the extra legroom, said Ms. King at Continental. Commercial Loan Workout.
Tags: airlines, federal aviation, flying business, transportation statistics, traveler
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