Which ones that you Don't get??

[Swordsman422]

It was a joke - the seat examples you gave were close to the format of draft classifications, where 1A and 4F are the archetypes of "You - in uniform, NOW!" and "Go home - we don't want you".

Oh... I thought you were referring to the air marshals, which 1A is a commonly assigned seat.

[wolfie]

Bad idea having a particular seat be a "go-to" location for air marshals - they're supposed to blend in with the other passengers, so potential hijackers won't be able to spot them. Also, wouldn't it be less obvious for a person at the back of the plane to be looking out for trouble, since they wouldn't need to turn around?

[Swordsman422]

You'd think. But imposing them between the cockpit and everyone else is the main idea. Never mind the bulletproof doors that only lock electronically from the inside, and the SOP to never, ever, ever, for any reason go out there to try to stop it ourselves. Our job is to land the plane as soon as able. Lots of airlines want to put them in coach. So do passengers, who get pretty sick of being bumped from first class when they paid for it.

I've only had an air marshal onboard once. He had to identify himself to us and the cabin crew, and he was right up there in front.

I think you can infer my opinion...

[mhkohne]

bulletproof doors that only lock electronically from the inside

You know, I actually think there's a procedural problem with those doors on certain aircraft. The last plane I was on had toilets at the front, and in order to prevent the passengers knowing that the door was opening, they put up a curtain so that you couldn't see the cockpit door or the toilet stall door.

Except they ONLY put up the curtain when the crew needed to use the toilets. So it's pretty damned obvious what was going on.

I don't know if that was 'best we can do with the plane as designed' or what, but it wasn't giving me warm fuzzies - there was way too much info about what was going on available to us passengers.

(why yes, I AM paranoid. How nice of you to notice!)

[wolfie]

So do passengers, who get pretty sick of being bumped from first class when they paid for it.

With a bit of planning, airlines could avoid this problem. When tickets for a given flight open up, pre-book the seat. A few weeks in advance, decide which flights will have the air marshals, and un-book the seat on those that won't. No need to bump someone who paid for first class into coach - those customers definitely have a right to be pissed off.

Note that the presence of a pissed-off customer at the gate demanding to be put back into the first-class seat they paid for instead of "cattle class" is an indication to the bad guys that an air marshal is on board - clear indication to start their attack by killing the guy in 1A.

[Swordsman422]

With a bit of planning, airlines could avoid this problem. When tickets for a given flight open up, pre-book the seat. A few weeks in advance, decide which flights will have the air marshals, and un-book the seat on those that won't. No need to bump someone who paid for first class into coach - those customers definitely have a right to be pissed off.

Note that the presence of a pissed-off customer at the gate demanding to be put back into the first-class seat they paid for instead of "cattle class" is an indication to the bad guys that an air marshal is on board - clear indication to start their attack by killing the guy in 1A.

Oh, and for a perfect world, how I wish this were so. I don't know how they go about just deciding what seat they want, or why they can say what seat they want. They don't pay for the seat, which is all the airline cares about it, really. Non-revving a prime piece of real-estate is basically just torching dinosaurs for nothing. First class seats where it's a few hundred dollars is bad enough, but the long haul international flights with private cabins... that's a frikkin' car in some cases. There are crew rest areas aboard those flights that could be made available without bumping a passenger down class. Like I said, I've only ever had one before, but you do hear about it in dispatch, at lounges, and from flight and cabin crew who have seen it before. Passengers get pissed and I can't say I blame them for showing it.

Well, I certainly didn't mean to hijack this thread, no pun intended.

[wolfie]

Don't worry, there isn't a Thread Marshal in General Work Chat - today.