Community Chat

[Suhse]

Just talking to my Boss, she recently got home from a long flight. On the 2nd half of the trip, they were on a smaller plane, a Bombadier;2 seats on each side of the aisle, and it seats hundred people. Boss's seat mate was a woman, that she said was plump, but not seriously overweight, in appearance. However, my boss couldn't help but notice that the woman, couldn't get her seat belt fastened. She was obviously struggling with it and when she couldn't get it to Fasten, she just pulled it across her lap and held it was not secure. My boss said she was tempted to mention to her that she could get a seatbelt extension and thought maybe she was going to do that on her own. When she did not ask for a seatbelt extension, she wondered if she should mention to the flight attendant because of the safety issue of the woman not being secure. What if they hit turbulence she could be badly injured? In the end,and, my boss did not say anything, she did not want to embarrass the woman, and she wasn't sure what the airlines policy was, what if she mentioned it to the attendant and, their policy was that they required the woman to buy another seat since she couldn't fasten her seatbelt? My boss said she did worry about it though and wondered if she shouldn't have said something because of the safety issues. What would you have done?

[hckynut]

Would You Have Spoken Up?

Yes and before takeoff if I noticed this right away.

[NoelSeven]

Flight attendants go down the aisle right before take-off to assure everyone is safely buckled in.

What was the end of your boss' story? Did a flight attendant notice or did your boss say something?

Plump doesn't usually require an extension that I've seen, it's for a larger size than that.

[Another new name Sue]

It's hard to say what I would have done, but I probably would have suggested to the woman that she ask for a seatbelt extension. Or discretely mentioned it to the flight attendant who should have caught the trouble in the first place. Not only could she be hurt, but if she's "loose" during turbulence, she could smash into someone else.

[ROMARY]

Speak up! You would have felt awful if there was turbulence and the woman (and possibly you and/or others) was injured, or worse. Safety first.

[Snowpuppy]

Flights that I've been on and a seatbelt isn't fastened the overhead light stayed on to alert the flight attendant.

[september]

The flight attendants should have noticed this....surely they must know that some bigger people will need an extension piece, and how could they not notice that a bigger person was on this flight?

I think I would first mention to my seatmate that these extensions are available, and hope that she would be the one to ring for an attendant to give her one.

If she refused? I don't know....I might just be tempted to drop it, knowing I had to sit next to her for the rest of the flight. Some people on planes, have been rather hostile lately.

[Suhse]

The Flight Attendant didn't notice and the flight was smooth, my Boss didn't say anything, she said she wished she had. When they were getting off the plane, the woman definitely didn't look like she should have had a problem. She was probably embarrassed, but, quite possibly there was something wrong with the seat belt that the Attendant could have helped with.

[Deb1010again]

There's now tactful way to suggest a seatbelt extension. I think if this really happened to me I wouldn't have the cohones to do the right thing and say something to the woman and if that didn't do the trick, then go to the flight attendant. IMO saying it here is easy but if you're really presented with the situation it's another story.

[raven-blackbird]

the lady was a grown woman.......she knew the risk she took and she knew what could happen if they hit turbulence.........so it was on her..........I would have been right with your boss but for different reasons..................................raven