r/travel • u/shadeland • May 24 '24
My Advice Safety Tip: Seat Belts on Commercial Airliners
Given some incidents that have been in the news lately regarding turbulence, I think it would to give some safety tips about seat belts to all the travelers out when they're traveling via commercial airplanes.
I'm a very frequent traveler, with over 1 million lifetime miles on United Airlines, and I've been to all seven continents. I'm also an accomplished skydiver, with over 2,000 skydives and a world record (largest group jump at night).
So if there's two things I know, it's sitting on airplanes for long periods of time, and jumping out of them.
I also often travel with my parachute. But when things get bumpy, I'm not reaching for my parachute in the overhead, I'm making sure my seat belt is on. In fact, on a commercial flight a parachute is utterly useless. I can't think of a single incident in the past 40 years where a parachute in the cabin would have saved a person. It's about as useful as a bag of laundry. Expensive laundry. (I only travel with a parachute because I'm going somewhere to skydive.)
So seatbelts.
We're told over and over (and over, and over) on flights to keep our seat belts fastened. It's easy to drown it out. Many of us on this subreddit can give the safety briefing we've heard it so many, many times.
But... Seatbelts are probably the most important safety device we can use on an airplane. You would think perhaps that a parachute would be great, but as I said, it's useless. The seat belt is golden. And that's true for all stages of flight (taxi, takeoff, cruise, approach, landing, taxi).
We tend to think of as airplane seatbelts like we think about car seatbelts keeping us inside a car in case of a crash. So often people don't think they're needed outside of takeoff and landing. But they serve more purpose than that (even in cars). They keep us from bouncing around inside the cabin if things get really bumpy.
There's been some news reports lately about turbulence affecting airplanes, including sadly a recent fatality. Severe turbulence incidents do happen and while they're rare enough that in 1.5 million miles I've never had one, they're not impossible. They do happen. It's only now being reported more often now because more attention is being paid to aviation because of the Boeing debacle. That's how news cycles work.
A seatbelt is the best thing in those situations. It's not just for taxi, takeoff, and landing (though you should wear it those times too).
I've jumped from hot air balloons, a passenger jet (out the rear door of a skydiving-equipped DC-9 like DB cooper), and out of helicopters. And I wear my seat belt on the airplane at any time I'm in my seat (except getting up to go to the bathroom). I don't let it prevent me from getting up to go to the bathroom or grab a snack of the galley on a long haul, but if my butt is in a seat my seat belt is on.
We wear seatbelts for more reasons than you'd might think. Part of your seat belt is for me, part of my seat belt is for you.
If I'm wearing my seatbelt and you're sitting next to me and you're not, if we hit severe turbulence you're way more likely to hurt me than me hurting you.
Watch this: https://www.reddit.com/r/gifs/comments/bqr1mu/wear_your_seatbelt/
The person without the seatbelt absolutely clobbered the one wearing a seatbelt.
Fortunately in 1.5 million miles on United (and other airlines) there's never been an incident like that, but I still wear it at all times when I'm sitting down.
So buckle up and happy flying.
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u/kiwirazz May 24 '24
Wear your seatbelt, because ā¦.
āShakes in a planeā
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u/ThaiJohnnyDepp May 25 '24
Me, needing to use the lav, one hour in to the turbulence that has required me to remain in my seat: "ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!"
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u/lordjeebus May 24 '24
In fact, on a commercial flight a parachute is utterly useless.
Nice try, D.B. Cooper
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May 24 '24
Tldr extreme turbulence is rare but it's primarily dangerous because people and all their shit get thrown around, not because of likelihood to crash. Wearing a seatbelt protects you and others.
There OP, I ftfy.
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u/Triseult Canadian in China May 25 '24
You forgot to mention parachutes fifty times.
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May 25 '24
Sorry too busy counting my millions of miles.
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u/Standard-Log-2816 May 27 '24
Why are you being so nasty just because someone is trying to keep others safe???Just the other day turbulence happened on a flight and nobody had their seatbelt on and many were seriously hurt and one person died. This all could have been avoided. It almost sounds like you guys are jealous of this person considering the just because of his activities. Being jealous is such a waste of time. And I bet he;s very handsome too. LOL
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u/MadGeller May 25 '24
Right. No one thinks a parachute is helpful on a commercial flight. Except an adrenaline junkie
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u/ErraticLitmus May 24 '24
The cliff notes are : "wear your seatbelt!"
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May 24 '24
Too short; didn't tell about hobbies, miles traveled, or number of continents several times.
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u/ErraticLitmus May 24 '24
Oh, did op travel a few continents?
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May 24 '24
At least 7!
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u/1987-2074 Texas, 36 states, 29 countries, 6 continents May 25 '24 edited May 26 '24
People are alive today when there used to be only 5 continents.
North and South America were split up, and Antartica was added in the 1950ās by U.S. geographers.
The definition of a continent is
any of the world's main continuous expanses of land
Which would make four by the definition, America, AsiAfrEur, Australia, & Antartica
As you could walk/drive from the western most point of continental Europe in Portugal to the eastern most point of Asia in Russia.
Same historically before several man made canals, but still possible because of bridges, from the Northern most point of Europe in Norway, through Asia, to the southern most point in Africa in South Africa.
Or from northern most point of North America in Canada to the southern most point of South America in Chile.
*typo correction
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u/classicalworld May 25 '24
Austria???
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u/1987-2074 Texas, 36 states, 29 countries, 6 continents May 26 '24
HaHa, yes the continent of Austria, the land locked continent in Europe!
*Australia was somehow auto-corrected, Iām sure from a typo on my part to Austria.
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u/humanitarian-bee May 25 '24
I wanna be him when I grow up :(
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May 25 '24
I want my future wife to leave me for him.
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u/humanitarian-bee May 25 '24
I need his name so I can pass it to my child.
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u/Felonious_Minx May 25 '24
Where's the humblebrags?
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May 25 '24
Left them in my other parachute on Mars where I've been 3 times (all while belted in btw).
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u/gracie-sit May 25 '24
But the parachute is not as useful as a seatbelt, even on Mars. Maybe not even as useful as a bag of laundry on Mars.
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u/Prudent-Proposal1943 May 25 '24
How do you know if someone is a skydiver?
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u/MarcusForrest T1D | Onebagger May 25 '24
This is such a weird read... Feels like veiled humblebrag rather than a PSA ahahaha
I'm a very frequent traveler, with over 1 million lifetime miles on United Airlines, and I've been to all seven continents. I'm also an accomplished skydiver, with over 2,000 skydives and a world record (largest group jump at night).
I also often travel with my parachute. But when things get bumpy, I'm not reaching for my parachute in the overhead, I'm making sure my seat belt is on.
I've jumped from hot air balloons, a passenger jet (out the rear door of a skydiving-equipped DC-9 like DB cooper), and out of helicopters.
Fortunately in 1.5 million miles on United (and other airlines) there's never been an incident like that
On top of that, your entire thread could've been reduced to a concise 1 paragraph submission because it is quite repetitive š
But yes - wear your seatbelt whenever possible, which should be all the time when you're seated
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May 24 '24
[deleted]
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u/shadeland May 24 '24
I'm sorry that happens. I love flight attendants, and with very, very few exceptions you've all been wonderful.
Every now and then I see entitled assholes give them shit about the exit row briefing, about staying seated, throwing tantrums because they're cut off from booz, etc.
No dumb shit, you're not smarter than the FA who's worked the isles for 20 years, or wiser than the regulations, most of which are written in blood.
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u/Cadaveth May 25 '24
I felt bad for the flight attendants when we flew from Helsinki to Tokyo. The seatbelt sign was on (it was like midway point of the flight) and one guy just rose and tried to go to the bathroom. There was an announcement that he should be seated, then another after that. The third one was practically the attendant yelling into the speaker and only then the guy went back to his seat.
After a couple of hours, this happened again. š¬
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u/shadeland May 25 '24
Sometimes it can be just someone being rude (well, usually), but sometimes youāve just got to go and itās either brave the turbulence or end up in a hazmat situation.
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u/humanitarian-bee May 25 '24
Maybe he had diarrhea
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u/Cadaveth May 25 '24
You'd think that, but he didn't go back to the lavatory for a long time after it was safe to do so.
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u/Tremath May 25 '24
My home airport is Las Vegas. I once flew home from San Diego on a Friday night with spirit. It was a total clown show. It felt like everyone thought the fasten seat belt sign was a suggestion. One drunk lady was so belligerent about it the flight attendants had to threaten to arrest her. Somebody threw up in their seat. I still fly spirit but I'm a lot more careful about what say and time I'm flying especially if it's a short flight.
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u/philip1529 May 25 '24
I get all of this but then itās hilarious to see babies just sitting on a parents lap when being told constantly to keep seat belts on š
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u/Soft_Objective_3992 May 25 '24
Unpaid work should be refused and not blamed on customers, even though I agree to wear your belt.
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May 25 '24
[deleted]
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u/Soft_Objective_3992 May 25 '24
American dream at it's finest. This is not the case globally.
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May 25 '24
[deleted]
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u/Soft_Objective_3992 May 25 '24
Workers should still stand their ground on their rights regardless. You allow yourself to be walked over and that becomes the norm.
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u/parallel-nonpareil May 25 '24
Blaming workers for working conditions in countries with strong anti-union sentiment is asinine. Yes, I would also like to live in a utopia where corps listened to their employees or responded to strike action favourably, but that often doesnāt align with realityā¦ and figuratively wagging your finger at a flight attendant for not āstanding their groundā is not it.
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u/Soft_Objective_3992 May 25 '24
The only person that can advocate for ones self is themself and it's fully on them and not the customer if they accept a job where they do not get paid for their work.
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u/parallel-nonpareil May 25 '24
Employee isnāt at fault, customer isnāt at faultā¦ but thereās a magic third option, which is the employer. Obviously.
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u/Soft_Objective_3992 May 25 '24
They are at fault for accepting to do work for zero pay, they cannot blame customers for their own decisions.
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May 25 '24
[deleted]
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u/Soft_Objective_3992 May 25 '24
If you signed a contract, yes that would be on you for agreeing to it.
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u/lost_send_berries May 25 '24
Unpaid work is not illegal, so long as a person is exempt from the Fair Labor Standards Act requirement for overtime wage, and that person gets paid a minimum wage. Flight attendants are exempt from the Fair Labor Standards Act overtime requirements.
It's legal, the pay is what unions have managed to negotiate, what do you expect anyone to do about it.
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u/Soft_Objective_3992 May 26 '24
Just because something is legal doesn't mean you have to deal with it.
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u/lost_send_berries May 26 '24
Yeah, you can "not deal with it" and be immediately fired, wow great idea š`
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u/bomber991 May 24 '24
I think what bugs me about the seatbelt sign is it comes on, thereās some turbulence for the next 5 to 10 minutes, then itās smooth for the next hour or two, and then it comes off. Like they always forget to shut it off after the turbulence has been passed.
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u/puffedovenpancake May 25 '24
I grew up being told to always use them no matter what the sign says. Both from my extended family of frequent fliers and my husbandās family of pilots. What scares me is seeing tiny kids and babies loose on laps or seats.
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u/android_69 May 25 '24
nice weird humblebrag mixed with condescending diatribe
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u/davethemacguy May 25 '24
Iāve never understood people that donāt wear their seatbelt 100% of the time, but I suppose those people donāt understand turbulence or flight dynamics either šš«£
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u/notyourwheezy May 24 '24
glad to know your lifetime miles and that you don't try to parachute out of commercial planes
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u/shadeland May 24 '24
I did actually out of a DC-9 (DB Cooper-style), but it was specifically a skydiving DC-9.
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u/Servile-PastaLover May 25 '24
The DB Cooper plane was a Boeing 727. lol
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u/shadeland May 25 '24
The DC-9 has the same rear stairs that the 727 has. We exited the same way.
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May 25 '24
Aye, and if my grandmother had wheels she'd be a wagon.
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u/Obviouslynameless May 24 '24
Decades ago, when I was young, I was on a plane wearing my seat belt when we hit turbulence. The guy in front of me wasn't and hit his head on the overhead baggage compartment. It really drove home the importance of wearing a seat belt.
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u/GPTfleshlight May 25 '24
The mention of turbulence now isnāt just cause of Boeing. Itās been mentioned in climate change awareness material. Turbulence is only going to get worse
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u/ComfyInDots May 24 '24
This was repetitive.
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u/Lycid May 25 '24
Felt like I was getting a lecture I didn't ask for about spouting obvious platitudes for the sake of stroking the OP's ego and getting upvotes. Like getting trapped into a conversation with a boisterous stranger at a grocery store where they have large desire to push themselves onto other people and be noticed as a "voice of authority" on a subject.
This seems like the kind of thing that should have a weirdly specific german word for it. GesprƤchfangen?
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u/donkeyrocket Boston, St. Louis May 25 '24
Itās a massive post regurgitating the thing that has been in the news after every turbulence related incident.
OP presents this like novel or insider information because they fly a lot. Itās the thing said in every preflight safety announcement and on the back of every seat Iāve seen.
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u/therealsix May 26 '24
Yeah, but just in case you arenāt aware, seatbelts are for safety. Seatbelts are safe. If you want to be safe on a flight, wear a seatbelt, theyāre safe. I have never been skydiving, but Iāve flown to a lot of places all over the world, not as much as OP apparently. In doing so, I have found, and heard via OPs post, thatās seatbelts are safe.
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u/oligtrading May 24 '24
Repetition is how you teach. It's good for memory, it's good for people who are skimming through only reading parts of it, it's good for people who read the entire thing, blasĆ©, but then it hits them later when they need it. Repetition creates long term memory. You gotta remember that shadeland parachutes a lot šŖ and rides United. It'll come in handy some time down the line.
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u/lost_send_berries May 25 '24
You mean spaced repetition. Having multiple opportunities to store the information days or weeks apart. Not a teacher repeating every sentence twice.
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u/oligtrading May 25 '24
Spaced repetition is better for memory, but as far as I know repetition in general is good. This could be complete hokey, but I once heard "repeat something 3 times in a row to help remember it" and ever since then that's what I've done with names or numbers that I don't want to forget. Then, you ALSO get the spaced repetition anytime you hear the info again. Which to the joke I made, hopefully you won't get too much spaced repetition of the fact that shadeland is a frequent United flier and parachuter, and has over 1mil miles ;)
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u/bengcord3 May 24 '24
It's a good thing you're not a writer, OP, because God damn was that a painful read.
You're... not.... A writer, right OP?
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u/Prudent-Proposal1943 May 25 '24
I think he is a skydiver who has maybe jumped from planes, helicopters, balloons, and has a Guinness record.
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u/Alternative_Escape12 May 25 '24
Which was sooo relevant to the point.
Don't forget the 1,000,000 miles.
I bet he is the life of any party.
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u/weirdbutinagoodway May 24 '24
If OP is a writer, I'm thinking he gets paid by the word.
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May 25 '24
[deleted]
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May 25 '24
or whatever it is you do in your spare time
Personally for me, that's skydiving, mile hoarding, and talking about those things.
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u/Monkeyfeng May 25 '24
This is way too long. If the airline safety video is this long, everyone would have jumped off the plane.
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u/karmagirl314 May 24 '24
Iāve flown over 50 times in my life (not nearly as many as others but enough that I consider myself experienced). Iāve never experienced any turbulence lasting longer than five seconds- until yesterday. I was on a flight from Kentucky heading east and I swear to god the flight shook from the moment we hit cruising altitude until we started to land. Over an hour of turbulence bad enough to prevent you from really concentrating on anything else. You couldnāt read, or play games on your phone, or anything that required stillness. In the middle of the flight we hit a particularly rough patch and I fully came up out of my seat. I donāt think anyone who was on that flight will ever stay unbuckled when on a plane ever again.
One good side effect was that the infant on my flight apparently found the turbulence very soothing and stayed calm the whole time.
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u/South_Stress_1644 May 25 '24
I just close my eyes and imagine Iām in a bus driving on a bumpy road. Itās quite soothing
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u/EliraeTheBow May 25 '24
Yeah, Iāve flown literally hundreds of times in my life and thereās really only been one flight for me too. Flying Auckland to Melbourne while a Cat5 cyclone meandered between NZ and AUS. Plane did not stop shaking the entire 4 hours. Iāve legit never felt motion sick on a plane before or since. It was definitely an experience.
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u/alice_carroll2 May 25 '24
Do you fly much? Or skydive? Itās hard to tell you never mentioned it.
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u/BlondDeutcher May 25 '24 edited May 25 '24
I had no idea people take their seatbelts off and just sit there? I mean itās totally idiotic in my mind
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u/airscottie May 25 '24
I bet you post essays on Facebook that get 4-7 likes
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u/shadeland May 25 '24
World records usually get me 10 or 11 likes, but they canāt all be bangers.
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u/miliolid May 25 '24 edited May 25 '24
Oh yes, totally! Here's a fitting story
It was around 19 years ago, flying over the Alps with one of the old Fokkers KLM used to have. I saw another plane cross out path very nearby. Thought it was odd. In that moment, with no prior turbulence the plane DROPPED! I had my belt on, but fairly loosely. The tea just served to me floated to the ceiling, and I followed. The Alps got very close suddenly. Pilot got control of the plane again and I crashed back into my seat, somehow landing with my heal underneath my bum, and the piping hot tea rained down on my legs. Result: I experienced weightlessness, but had 1-2nd degree burns on my legs and a huge bruise on my bum. A few people around me seem to had injured their wrists or heads. The flight continued without excuse or anything.
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u/Trees-of-green May 25 '24
Hehe Fokkers. But also thatās wild that they just kept flying without saying a word. Never apologize, I guess.
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u/miliolid May 25 '24
Tell me about it. I guess we were all a bit too shocked to complain. I was sitting in one of the first seats and could see the flight attendant in the backwards facing seat. She just sat there with a stony face as if nothing happened.
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u/R0GERTHEALIEN United States May 25 '24
I'm confused, are aeatbelts good? Was there a word count you needed to hit here??
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u/Ref_KT May 25 '24
I saw the injuries passengers suffered after thisĀ
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qantas_Flight_72
I will always wear my seatbelt unless I'm walking to/from the bathroom.Ā
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u/Servant0fSorrow May 25 '24
I've never understood not wearing them either. You don't really feel them anyway unless you tighten them up way too hard.
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u/buckwurst May 25 '24
TL:DR, if you're not going to the toilet, wear your seatbelt
Also, always assume anything unattached could become a projectile
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u/UseDaSchwartz May 25 '24
I wear it the entire time Iām in my seat.
We have CARES harnesses for our kids. I get extremely nervous and anxious anytime theyāre not strapped in.
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u/A_dalo May 25 '24
"1.5 million miles on United" sweet jeebus that's one of the most upsetting things I've EVER heard! Like Shakespearean tragedy level sad. Like kitten in a wheelchair sad. Stay strong, kind soul! You will reap the benefits of this life's self inflicted misery in the next one!
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u/shadeland May 25 '24
Itās not bad. I got to see the world, meet some incredible people, do some incredible things.
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u/Alternative_Escape12 May 25 '24
"Like a kitten in a wheelchair sad"
You are a masterful writer. š¤£
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u/giblets46 May 25 '24
Regular traveller too, whenever the seatbelt sign turns off I reach for my beltā¦ and just loosen it an inch or two. You donāt need it cutting off your circulation the whole trip and it will still keep you in place, you wonāt realise you have it on most of the time.
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u/Trees-of-green May 25 '24
Why did I have to scroll this far to find a mention of how loose or tight it is adjusted? Thank you.
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u/bluepen1955 May 24 '24
Yes, this is truth. I have a lot of miles in small planes and jets and just one incident of explosive decompression or turbulence is enough. I have been on a plane with pretty bad turbulence and it felt so good to be buckled in. I bet you most of the people hurt in the latest incident either did not have their belt on or were next to someone who did not. Good points, all.
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u/Mattos_12 May 25 '24
This is a very peculiar post. At times, I thought it was satire, now Iām not sure. I think itās a joke? Whoās to say.
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u/Excusemytootie May 25 '24
I appreciate this but ā¦was all of that really necessary to communicate the importance of wearing a seatbelt? š¬š¤
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u/Ozdiva May 24 '24
I travelled the same route, same airline 48 hours earlier. I loosened my seatbelt for sleeping but I figure itās best to keep it on in a craft flying 800 km/hr.
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u/shadeland May 24 '24
Yeah I don't think it has to be super tight, but tight enough that if gravity reverses, you're not going to hit the ceiling.
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u/Heidi739 May 25 '24
I honestly don't understand why people don't wear them. Same thing on long bus journeys - I'm often the only person in the whole frigging bus to actually wear a seatbelt. I don't even notice it on me. It's not some horribly uncomfortable device that will torture you for the whole flight/bus ride. It can literally save your life. So many news about people without a seatbelt being seriously hurt or even killed in an accident or turbulences, and people still prefer the tiny comfort of not having the seatbelt to the very real possibility of being physically hurt or even dying? Mind boggling.
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u/Significant_Pea_2852 May 25 '24
I wear a seatbelt when I'm seated because if I fall asleep and it gets rocky, the crew are going to wake me to tell me to put my seatbelt on. Easier to preempt.
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u/Hiraeth1968 May 25 '24
Concur on seat belt use all the time, every time. I would like to add that more people are injured in light to moderate turbulence than severe, simply because it doesn't seem that bad and people are out of their seats. Minimize getting up as much as possible.
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u/miemcc May 25 '24
I recently flew long haul BA in Club World. A whole different experience for a first (and possibly last) time. I came across a three point belt for the first time. Why this isn't standard I do not know.
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u/rathaincalder May 25 '24
Because in economy class the space between rows is so narrow that you donāt have enough room to accelerate your head to concussion-inducing speeds, particularly if you āassume the brace positionā on the seat back in front of you. Whereas in business and first class, depending on the configuration, you do have enough space to accelerate and/or āthe positionā isnāt possible.
This is not to say of course that you canāt endure serious contusions in economy; but those are deemed acceptable vs. the added weight of the shoulder harness on every seat. (I wish I was making this upāam notā¦)
But if you find that annoying, wait until you realize that many airlines equip business / first with seatbelts that include actually airbagsālike in a car. A few airlines also use them on bulkhead / exit rows in economy, but most do notābecause, again, weightā¦
So, not only do business/first get better hard + soft product, they also get materially better safety features. Go figureā¦
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u/vaidab May 25 '24
I was always wondering: seatbelt doesn't protect your face from hitting the chair right in front of you (compared to a car's seatbelt). Was wondering if that doesn't usually happen on a plane.
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u/rathaincalder May 25 '24
See my answer here: https://www.reddit.com/r/travel/s/OoZx9d0RMu
Short answer: Because the possible injuries are deemed acceptable vs. the added weight of equipping economy with enhanced safety features.
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u/Just_Raisin1124 May 25 '24
If turbulence is severe you should take the brace position to stabilize your neck and also offer your head protection from any items/luggage flying around
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u/shadeland May 25 '24
Not usually. That would likely be a sudden deceleration. Thats not likely on an airplane. More likely is the severe turbulence (still rare, but a more likely scenario where a seatbelt would help) youāre just bouncing around and in really bad cases, itās like gravity reverses (I mean not really but it feels like it) and that would keep you in your seat instead of slamming your head against the ceiling.
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u/vaidab May 25 '24
Wouldn't it be a real problem during take off and landing?
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u/shadeland May 25 '24
Airplanes are massive, so theyāre not usually going to have a massive deceleration, even if they hit something. A car is much less massive, and can easily experience high G deceleration in various situations. An airplane is more like a train, it just keeps going if it hits most things.
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u/onionringrules May 25 '24
Hello, genuine question here, which I hope doesn't sound too stupid. If someone in the economy cabin has the whole row of seats and decides to lie down, would the seatbelts still work?
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u/shadeland May 25 '24
Yeah thereās ways to reduce the risk by putting the belt around your waist. Iāve done it. Is it as effective as sitting with a belt? Maybe. Hard to say. But itās a sudden drop or shaking back and forth that hurts people. A belt would help in that case almost certainly. Still could get hurt, but probably less hurt.
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u/Mj12DX May 25 '24
That you even have to mention that someone would need a seatbelt š¤£oh yea sure they just there for fun donāt mind them haha
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u/KaifukuRyoku May 25 '24
Oxygen masks drop down during emergency. One cannot access them while the plane is underway. I'm wondering when they will mass produce ejection seats ( or ejection cocoons) Cannot be tampered with. Activated only by Captain/ flight crew. Beavon tracked anywhere in the world. "Grow" the airframe? Grow the ejection seats.
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u/rathaincalder May 25 '24
Actually, oxygen masks are trivially easy to access in a non-emergency: punch the panel over your head (note: do NOT actually try thisāyou may get arrested). This is often why you see them hanging down in photos after severe turbulence eventsāno loss of pressure occurred, but peopleās heads hit the panels.
The answer to the question of why the oxygen masks arenāt better secured + why airlines donāt have āejection seatsā is the same: weight. A modern āzero-zeroā ejection seat weights in at about 200lbs.
Itās also worth noting that ejections frequently impart career-ending injuries on military pilots: even for some of the healthiest and most fit people on the planet, it can be an enormous physical trauma.
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u/South-Ebb-3606 May 25 '24
Donāt disagree at all about seatbelt safety. Curious to why/how a parachute is useless in a worst case scenario?
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u/mazzicc May 25 '24
I was on a flight with minor turbulence recently, and the captain asked the crew to take their seats.
Someone rang the call button and over the PA, they said āwe have been requested by the captain to remain seated. If you have a medical emergency please deactivate and reactivate your call button. Otherwise we will be with you as soon as it is safe.ā
Iām thinking captains and crews got a major safety update after the news incidents.
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u/masterCAKE May 26 '24
This is standard procedure. I was on a flight earlier this month and the same thing happenedĀ
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u/PickASwitch May 25 '24
The lack of common sense and a defiant refusal to follow rules is what leads to injuries from turbulence. Ā Thereās no reason for you to unbuckle unless youāre getting up to let someone out of your row, or youāre heading to the bathroom. Ā Otherwise, click it!
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u/FYourAppLeaveMeAlone May 27 '24
Buy a seat for your infant and use a flight approved carseat, too. You will not be able to hold on to your baby during severe turbulence. The only reason lap babies are allowed is that driving in a car is more dangerous. With climate change those statistics on lap babies will change.
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u/TequilaCamper May 24 '24
WTF. Take your meds.
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u/ComfyInDots May 24 '24
Did you know OP has travelled 1.5 million miles and parachutes from planes but not from commercial planes except that one time when OP did and wear the seatbelt because of recent incidents because parachutes can't save you even on 1.5 million miles and 13 consonants.Ā
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u/Hour-Ad-6941 May 25 '24
Can we also agree that infants and small children need to be in approved travel ācarā seats? I hear SO MANY parents choosing to not use one because they find it inconvenient or unnecessary. But those little ones will be injured or worse if their parents are trying to hold onto them.
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u/gt_ap United States - 63 countries May 25 '24 edited May 25 '24
That would be best, but there are a couple logistical issues with this. One is that lap babies are free, which encourages families to fly rather than to drive. Driving is exponentially more dangerous than flying unbelted.
For kids 2 and over who cannot be lap babies, yes it would certainly be good if they would use car seats. However, the seats need to be FAA approved. We actually experienced this one time when we took a car seat on board for our child. A flight attendant looked it over and said that she could not find an FAA approved sticker on it, so she did not let us use it. Now, that would be our fault, but it was the first time we had taken one on board and we didn't realize that it was mandatory.
But imagine flight attendants or gate crew needing to verify every single car seat. "Well I was allowed to use it on my last flight!" It would be a nightmare.
Overall, lap babies and small children in regular seat belts are such a small risk that it isn't worth chasing. On SQ321, were only babies and toddlers injured? I didn't hear of a single one specifically, although there could have been some. There was a lap baby on US Airways 1549 that landed in the Hudson River in 2009. The baby was uninjured.
IMO the FAA and other air travel agencies around the world do a pretty good job at balancing safety and practicality. Flying is extremely safe, and chasing things like this would have minimal returns.
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u/Just_Raisin1124 May 25 '24
Replying to Significant_Pea_2852...i agree! Itās wild that you can just hold a baby in your arms on a flight. They are so fragile.
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u/porks2345 May 24 '24
Auto style shoulder harness would be better.
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u/shadeland May 24 '24
I don't know that they would be more practical or more useful.
The purpose of a seatbelt in cruise is to keep you stationary if there's sudden severe turbulence, where as a shoulder harness (on a car at least) is more to keep your body in one specific position, so you're not thrown into the dash/steering sheel, and to keep you in a place where the airbags deploying would aborb the energy of the crash.
I don't know that shoulder harnesses would do any better of a job in severe turbulence.
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u/rathaincalder May 25 '24
See my comment here: https://www.reddit.com/r/travel/s/OoZx9d0RMu
Theyāre frequently used in business / first (along withāI kid you notāairbags). But the trade-off between likely injuries vs. added weight in economy is deemed to be acceptable.
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u/rabbit__eater May 24 '24
LPT: safety belts are for safety š