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Seatbelt sign


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I've seen a lot of stories about being stuck in an airplane seat with the seatbelt light on. I'm wondering if people have experienced that any time recently?

When I've been on planes I'm kinda too anxious to get up when it's on, but I've seen a lot of people go to the bathroom when it's on. I just haven't seen them do anything else or leave their seatbelt off when in their seats.

I think the real trap for me has been when they come by with drinks/snacks and the whole aisle is blocked by carts, haha.

I usually only use one airline so maybe it's just Alaska airlines staff don't care as much?

Definitely curious if this has happened to or around you.

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Watching video reviews of various airlines, the First Class passengers are often given lots to drink (much of it alcoholic).  A drink when they first are seated, a pre-dinner drink, a dinner drink, a post-dinner drink, etc.  Most of the reviewers include a review of the lavatory.  That makes me wonder if there's any problem using the toilet when the seat belt light is on.  

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In my very limited experience, they are very strict about people getting up when the seatbelt light's on.

What I can tell you about is the equivalent situation on a crowded train, when people have been unable to get out of their seats because it's so busy, or been left standing at the opposite end to the toilet, or even finding that the toilet's unusable (and locked) because someone's left it in such a state. It's quite common, of course, for people to turn up for evening or weekend trains having already had a lot to drink, and bearing more to drink on the way! 

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As a former flight attendant, I will say that our rule of thumb was that we were not to stop someone from going to the lavatory, but we were to offer them a warning/reminder that the seatbelt light was on. The only time I actually had to stop a passenger from going to the lavatory was while we were taxiing out  and we were about to turn onto the runway and takeoff. The passenger then got up and started towards the lavatory and I had to get out of my jumpsuit and approach him and ask him to return to his seat. He wasn't happy and was in a very desperate state, but we were in the "sterile cockpit" phase, so I could not contact the flight deck to have them stop the plane so he could go to the restroom. I let him go as soon as we reached 10,000 feet. And he made it to the restroom with no visible wetness on his jeans. 

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18 hours ago, wetinnashvegas said:

As a former flight attendant, I will say that our rule of thumb was that we were not to stop someone from going to the lavatory, but we were to offer them a warning/reminder that the seatbelt light was on. The only time I actually had to stop a passenger from going to the lavatory was while we were taxiing out  and we were about to turn onto the runway and takeoff. The passenger then got up and started towards the lavatory and I had to get out of my jumpsuit and approach him and ask him to return to his seat. He wasn't happy and was in a very desperate state, but we were in the "sterile cockpit" phase, so I could not contact the flight deck to have them stop the plane so he could go to the restroom. I let him go as soon as we reached 10,000 feet. And he made it to the restroom with no visible wetness on his jeans. 

Oh, that's so interesting. I never thought of that part of being a flight attendant. 

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Seat belt signs on airplanes are definitely not suggestions. They are mandatory and the crew should issue a warning to return to your seat until the seat belt sign is off. Technically failure to comply with the lighted signs, placards or crew member instructions is a felony that can get you arrested or fined.

That being said I find it unlikely that a crew member would flat out refuse to let a customer bend the rule under these circumstances unless they were in a critical phase of flight (i.e. taxiing, takeoff or landing). If a customer gets up during taxiing the pilot is required to stop the aircraft until they can be returned to their seat and buckled in securely. The only other option would be to return to the gate and kick the customer off for not complying which is just a bad idea.

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On 12/12/2021 at 7:50 PM, Spectator9 said:

Watching video reviews of various airlines, the First Class passengers are often given lots to drink (much of it alcoholic).  A drink when they first are seated, a pre-dinner drink, a dinner drink, a post-dinner drink, etc.  Most of the reviewers include a review of the lavatory.  That makes me wonder if there's any problem using the toilet when the seat belt light is on.  

There will be if you need to go, seat belts on for your safety at certain times, mis timing it can create a longer hold than expected, or worse...

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On 12/12/2021 at 7:01 PM, wetinnashvegas said:

As a former flight attendant, I will say that our rule of thumb was that we were not to stop someone from going to the lavatory, but we were to offer them a warning/reminder that the seatbelt light was on.

IIn

I always taken the warning as a rule my entire life... Kind of embarrassing to make it obvious you're really really desperate though...

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On 12/13/2021 at 1:01 AM, wetinnashvegas said:

As a former flight attendant, I will say that our rule of thumb was that we were not to stop someone from going to the lavatory, but we were to offer them a warning/reminder that the seatbelt light was on. The only time I actually had to stop a passenger from going to the lavatory was while we were taxiing out  and we were about to turn onto the runway and takeoff. The passenger then got up and started towards the lavatory and I had to get out of my jumpsuit and approach him and ask him to return to his seat. He wasn't happy and was in a very desperate state, but we were in the "sterile cockpit" phase, so I could not contact the flight deck to have them stop the plane so he could go to the restroom. I let him go as soon as we reached 10,000 feet. And he made it to the restroom with no visible wetness on his jeans. 

Was it what he was saying, or doing, that made it obvious he was very desperate?

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I was on a holiday flight with my family a few years ago to Ibiza, it was full of student type youngsters all drinking ready to party, in front of me were seated 2 girls, as soon as we had take off and the seat belt light went off she ran down the aisle to the toilet, over the din of the chatter I could hear her say to her friend she couldn’t wait any longer, they were all drinking it was like a boogy bus, they were all standing chatting in the aisle, the crew ran out of vodkas.....

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