Boy I miss lots of things when I'm traveling for Christmas... this incident - the rapid decompression of an Alaska Air flight over the holiday... well, I only heard about it today!

The incident itself is bad enough and it amuses me that the pre-flight litany always makes it seem as if having to don an oxygen mask on cabin depressurization is a piece of cake... but a couple of things he particularly noted, I think I want to comment on from my own perspective.

And as the oxygen masks deployed from the ceiling in a familiar, video-esque manner, we all grasped them in fear - trying to figure out how to breathe through the flimsy pieces of plastic. Parents were the most confused – as the masks were too large for their babies’ faces and were not easy to put on in such a panicked situation.

Because this is the holiday season and people are traveling to see family, I saw many young mothers with children under the age of 2 on board my various planes. None of them had bought an extra seat for the baby. And while the same monotonous spiel about seat belts and oxygen masks was droning endlessly on before take off, I couldn't help but wonder... so what does a mother holding a baby do about oxygen for the baby in that case?

There is only one mask per seat - at least that's the impression I receive from the airline presentation. But if a mother is holding a baby - you have 2 people who need air in one seat... what happens? Do they try to share? The instructions NEVER mention this little conundrum when they are telling you to put your own mask on first and then put the child's mask on... Plus - this would all be happening in the middle of loud swirling chaos! There is never a mention of the extra baby in a mother's lap...

So... Does anyone know what happens in this case?

The second thing that struck me in his account...

Thank god for the help of an amazing cabin crew and pilot. Without them, who knows what could have happened.

Yes, the crew of the aircraft. Let me tell you about the second short leg of our flight out to St. Louis. There is no direct flight from the New England area to St. Louis meaning, a layover is necessary. The second leg of our flight being between Chicago and St. Louis... the aircraft was a pretty small one (CRJ-700) - but a very nice one indeed with more than adequate leg room. It lacked one thing though... flight attendants who acted like mature responsible people.

The sweet young things in charge of this flight both appeared to be under the age of 25... now maybe they know their stuff - BUT actions (as the old saying goes) speak louder than words. The fact that they continually giggled - to the point of having to stop during announcements over the intercom - was just a tad disconcerting. Now I don't mind people enjoying their job, but when you're young (as these girls were) AND you act as if you're still in... oh say 7th grade... giggling in the back of class... I really have to wonder just how in the world are you going to handle an emergency? And quite honestly, after making yourself appear to be too Britany Spears for words... WHY should we listen to you?

Being young can put you in a bad position in this case. If there had been an emergency, I would be willing to bet that none of the men and most of the women would have had a very hard time taking any orders at all from these children in charge. This is certainly not a desirable thing and could be very dangerous.

The thought occurs...Were they even listening during their training, or were they slipping notes to each other about the cute pilot they saw at the airport? Or maybe they were too concerned about what "Tiffani said to Sally about John at the last party"... You see the problem?

The lesson... if you are young and in a position requiring you to take charge in an emergency, don't give people a chance to prejudge you as an idiot by acting in the manner of an imbecile school child.

Yes, THIS is why, even though it's a deadly bore, you should act like an adult in these situations.

Hat Tip Instapundit

Posted by: Teresa in Travel at 11:28 AM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
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