If you choose to sit in the emergency exit row, you leave your shoes on for takeoff and do not place belongings under the seat in front of you. I feel like that is the missing angle in a discussion over alleged racism on easyJet in which a flight attendant tried to eject two black men for “huffing” at her in a discussion over putting on their shoes prior to takeoff.
Passengers Revolt On EasyJet Over Exit Row Shoes Controversy
I’ll admit, I love to take my shoes off before takeoff, even though 121pilot, our resident pilot on Live and Live Let’s Fly, strongly advises against it. And while you can get away with that in most seats, the emergency exit row is different.
If you’ve ever sat in an emergency exit row, you know that a crew member will approach you prior to takeoff and confirm verbally that you are willing and able to help in the event of an emergency. You are also invited to review the safety card to ensure that should something go wrong, you will be a help and not a hindrance.
In that spirit, someone who chooses to sit in an exit row should be prepared to assist. If your shoes are off, you are not prepared. One, because you will stumble to put them on. Two, because even if you do not put them on in the event of an emergency, others may stumble over them as they exit the aircraft.
An easyJet flight from London (LGW) to Malaga, Spain (AGP) returned to the gate after two men “huffed” at a flight attendant when asked to put on their shoes prior to takeoff.
The crew member responded by telling the pilots to return to the gate so the “disobedient” passengers could be removed.
@easyJet attempting to remove 2 black boys from the flight for huffing at a member of the crew ! Absolutely disgusting. We’ve been delayed 2 hours and counting! Police on board @Gatwick_Airport #gatwick #lgw @SurreyPolice @TheSun #Easyjet pic.twitter.com/hkC3Aa4rb4
— LG (@LPGLDN) August 5, 2021
Only when the flight returned to the gate, passengers mutinied and stood up for the two men. In the end, it was the crewmembers who ended up leaving the flight, though not because of their behavior but because they timed out (at least according to easyJet).
EasyJet said:
EasyJet does not discriminate against any individual. Safety is our highest priority and there is nothing to suggest that discrimination played any part in the issue onboard.
The primary responsibility of our crew is for the safety of everyone onboard.
Our crew must ensure that safety requirements are followed by all passengers and as part of their role must check prior to take-off that everyone is compliant with these.
This is particularly important for passengers seated in emergency exit rows where crew ensure there are no loose items during take-off.
One passenger onboard said, “It seems so dramatic to call the police and have a plane with 160-odd passengers turn around and be delayed for someone huffing at them.” Here’s the important distinction: if they just gave the flight attendant attitude, then indeed it was a dramatic overreaction. But if they refused to put their shoes on or ignored the flight attendant, then I believe they should have been removed…or at least re-seated out of the emergency exit row. Notice the man pictured above is not wearing his mask either.
Even though there is virtually zero risk that an emergency will occur and and even smaller chance that passengers will actually be needed to assist in case of an emergency, you wear your shoes if seated in the emergency exit row. Period.
So this story leaves me with a question: did the passengers huff and put their shoes on or huff and refuse to put their shoes? That makes all the difference.
CONCLUSION
The plane finally took off again, though not before the captain warned the cabin:
“If anyone doesn’t listen when the new crew arrive, you’ll be removed and arrested.”
It’s good to stand up for justice. We just need to make sure that we are standing up for justice and not bad behavior…
(H/T: View From The Wing)
Par for the crew for FAs, they’ve all turned into Karens. Thanks Osama.
No, not all of them.
This particular rule is a necessary one and should be followed. Too often, I see emergency exit row requirements flouted without consequences. That can be dangerous if things go wrong. How hard is it to put your shoes on? Spoiler alert: it’s not. But these guys decided to be jerks and others elected to toss the race card on the table to try and justify it. Like many such non-events, it’s total garbage.
Nonsense, they got what they deserved.
Black Lives Matter
Aren’t you late for book burning somewhere?
Soy Boy
Ovule you be asking the same question if the passengers were white?
Probably bad behavior. Flight attendants today (in the U.S. especially) are known to abuse their authority over flight safety and claim people are disregarding flight safety instructions when they complain of bad service, bad flight attendant behavior, or don’t wear a mask between sips of water. People have a right to disagree with flight attendants’ judgement on service matters and ask questions, converse, and discuss things. Flight attendants often falsely use flight safety to silence people and falsely testify to it to pilots and cops to kick someone off and plane or worse. Flight attendants are known to escalate and instigate situations over innocuous things because they don’t like the way someone pronounced a vowel.
With that said, I don’t know about this case. We should be honest that one group in the world commits a disproportionate amount of violent crime and causes commotion every neighborhood they are in. When the news said young kids or youths did something, we know exactly who did it 90% of the time because it’s the same story. This bad behavior, poor customs, and low culture definitely can extend to being on a plane. I won’t criticize my European brothers and sisters for being uncomfortable dealing with problematic groups that are forced on us against our will.
100% agree. White people have committed and continue to commit crimes at terrifying levels. New war with hundreds of thousands of innocents bombed? White people. The list goes on really. This article is ridiculous. They huffed and proceeded to put on their shoes according to all the European articles I’ve read. What bad behavior?
You can be pretty sure of seeing the worst of British behaviour on a discount airline flight to those cesspit destinations in Spain, and Birmingham or Newcastle to Malaga would be a good bet. It’s further complicated when the carriers employ cabin crew from former communist countries, with ‘attitude’. Is it too much to expect to be able to get on a flight without “huffing” passengers/martinet FAs? I’d be very pissed-off with this delay…
Keeping your shoes on during take off and landing is only common sense, the ensuing disaster of not doing was demonstrated twenty years ago with the Singapore Airlines crash at Taipei.
Perhaps the author of this piece is too young to remember that?
Singapore Airlines have, ever since instructed all passengers to keep their shoes on during take off and landing and even issued ‘Singapore girl’ with different and more substantial shoes only for take off and landing.
I noticed several people with masks below thier mouth or nose on the video.
People seem to think flight behavior is a democracy. It is not. The crew is in charge, just like Immigration and Custom officials are in charge in their domains. If a Custom agent asked you to remove your shoes, you would, or face the consequences (probably a strip search if you annoyed them enough). Likewise, if a flight attendant asks you to put your shoes ON, you should, or face the consequences; removal from the flight.
How about everyone leaves their shoes on, regardless of aisle? It’s an aircraft cabin, not your living room.
The elephant in the room is clear. Was there a “Shoes required while seated in an exit row.” rule posted ANYWHERE?
If not, the crew may have been nit-picking based on their own personal biases. In modern times, it’s MOST LIKELY race.