izanti

So I took a flight on ASA today out of MEM and ran into this "new FAA regulation" regarding items allowed in the seat back pockets. The flight attendant said it a was a new fed regulation that absolutely no items such as laptops/ipads were allowed to be placed in the forward seat back pockets during taxi, takeoff and landing. She went around to myself and a few other pax taking our ipads and placing them into the overhead bins. Once we reached cruise she went by and asked if we wanted our stuff back. Come sterile time she went by and took our things and put them back into the bin again.

Has anyone heard or experienced this before? I non-rev about 4 flights a weeks and have never experienced this. I did some research and found some info from about 5-6 years ago stating this was a new regulation from the FAA but this is the first I have ever seen it enforced. Was the flight attendant right in doing this?

Purpltail

Dude, Mesaba has a Memphis male flight attendant that will make you remove your phone and BOARDING PASS from the seat back pocket. Yeah....you gotta put the boarding pass in your pocket or the overhead bin! He's going to be a hero someday.

Geardownflaps30

Been part of the various pre boarding and prior to movement announcements that I've been listening to for about two years now every time I commute or travel...
Includes mainline, connection carriers etc.


Still see disparity on which carrier insists on window shades open for take off and landing and which actually announce "this is the flight deck door, don't go near it"...

Perhaps different carriers emphasize it more or less or perhaps the FA just had a particularly obsessive FED on board recently...

FlyingNasaForm

Oh the joys of flying on Asian and Middle East carriers .

FlyingKat

The prohibition against heavier objects in the seat pocket during takeoff and landing that could cause a problem during an evacuation such as water bottles, laptops, and large books has always been there although enforcement is spotty. Some FAA Cabin Safety Inspectors will bust FAs on this for large objects and some won't. Some even go so far as to say the only thing allowed in the seat back pocket are the items the company places there (i.e. Magazines, Briefing Card, Sick Sack).

By the book, you are not allowed to keep objects such as laptops or purses in your lap for takeoff and landing. In practice most FAs will allow this.

Which window shades are required to be open depends on the certificate. All are required to have shades over the emergency exits open for takeoff and landing. Some carriers require all shades to be open because that is what is in the FA manual approved by the FAA.

In case you can't tell, a lot of this is subjective and depends on the carrier and CSI for that carrier. I've worked with some who are pretty easy to work with and let you take care of the passengers. Most of these CSIs are former FAs. I've worked with others that make you follow the manual letter for letter and will bust you for the smallest thing (like having anything else but company items in a seat back pocket). There is nothing like working hard to make your passengers safe and happy, and have a supervisor or CSI come along and bust you because a passenger has a paperback in a seat pocket. This will make you paranoid as hell when you get your job threatened over something like this.

So give the FAs a break and work with them. You don't know if they just came off a flight where some FAA CSI put the fear of god into them for allowing a simple thing like a book in a seatback pocket or allowing a little old lady to carry a purse in her lap. I'll grant you that some are anal tools, but most are not and are trying their best to do a difficult job at times.

afterburn81

Sometimes I think flight attendants make crap up. They always stress on the announcement that your phones cannot be put in "airplane mode". I have yet to find out where it says that you cannot put your phone in airplane mode. I can turn my phone off but it will still ring if it's not in airplane mode. And I always love the 10K ft bell announcement. "Ladies and gentlemen, we have been cleared to land". No we haven't. Don't lie

CriticalMach

When did ASA become a middle eastern or Asian carrier?

Justdoinmyjob

Next time you fly on a Delta mainline or DCI plane, take a look in the back of the Sky magazine. On the page where it shows what is allowed/disallowed, in the writing on the right margin, it says airplane mode is not allowed. If you want to corroborate that, get a hold of the cabin Op Specs for Delta. It's in there. Can't speak for any other carrier, but I'm sure it buried somewhere in some archaic FAA document that they all have to follow.

FlyingKat

Its usually in the FA manual as well.

Once again, its what's in the FA manual. FA's are required to use the announcements in the FA manual, no matter how ridiculous they may seem.

CriticalMach

I once witnessed an american eagle flight attendant that stood next to a passenger, made her pull out her phone, verified that it was not only in airplane mode (which it was) and than forced her to completely turn it off while she stood there.