If you’re one of these 5 passengers we’ll never give you the best seats on a flight
EVERYONE knows that the best seats in economy class are the emergency exit rows.
You get extra legroom and they're often over the wings, meaning turbulence doesn't feel as bad there as it does in other parts of the plane.
However, there's a few different types of people who aren't able to enjoy the privilege of sitting in those special economy seats.
This may sound harsh, but there are pretty strict rules about who can and who can't sit in those seats - and it's for everyone's benefit, rather than any discriminatory ideas.
In my latest blog for Sun Online Travel, I'll explain who isn't allowed to be seated in the emergency exit row - and why.
Firstly, these rules aren't airline specific, they're from the Civil Aviation Authority.
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They came up with because it the exit needs to be opened and the aircraft evacuated as quickly as possible, if there's an emergency.
While we don't want to sound mean, there are some people for whom that's just not possible.
The rules prohibit us from allowing passengers with physical or mental impairment or disability to sit in the emergency exit seats.
We have to judge each case on its own merits, but the rule is, if their impairment would make it difficult for them to move quickly, we will have to reseat them elsewhere.
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The same goes for passengers who have significant sight or hearing impairments.
We need the people in the emergency exits to respond to instructions quickly and people like that could struggle to do that for obvious reasons.
Additionally, we can't give those seats to people who aren't quite as mobile because of age, sickness or even physical size.
It seems a bit unfair because some of these passengers are exactly the types of people who might need the extra legroom.
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But unfortunately their comfort has to come lower down on our list of priorities than everyone's safety.
There are other people who aren't able to sit in those seats as well, including children and infants, even those who are accompanied by adults.
It's obviously a lot to ask children to be responsible for everyone's safety and it's not a position they should be put in.
They're not really the people who need those seats the most anyway.
We also can't allow passengers travelling with animals to sit there either.
Some people have support animals with them on the plane for a variety of reasons and that could affect their speed when reacting to an emergency.
The animal could also block other people trying to get out of the exit, so it's best to have them sitting elsewhere.
Sadly, if any of these types of passenger want to get comfortable, they're going to have to pay for the privilege of better seats elsewhere, or make the most of the seats they're given.
If there's any better seats available after the plane takes off, they're welcome to approach their flight attendants and explain their situation and it's then at our discretion to move them.
But we can't guarantee anything unfortunately, those are the rules and they're there to keep us all as safe as possible.
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Meanwhile, travel experts revealed several methods they have used to get themselves a free row.
And a man was told he was "creepy" for his method for keeping the seats next to him empty.
