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To save weight, airline removes life vests
In an attempt to cut as much weight as possible from their aircraft, Jazz Airlines, a subsidiary of Air Canada, recently decided to pull all life vests from their aircraft. Now, in the unlikely event of a water landing, passengers will be advised to use their floating seat cushions for buoyancy.Will this affect the safety of the passengers? Well, purely from the flotation standpoint, life vests have an advantage in that they don't need to be held onto, which can be tough to do when you're in ice-cold Canadian water. They also help the passenger's body face upward, out of the water versus the opposite position that holding a seat cushion would require (an article on TheStar has better diagrams). But government regulators don't require one or the other.
How much do these life vests weigh? About a half kilogram. For the seventy five people that might be on this Jazz aircraft, that's a total of thirty-eight kilograms or about eighty three pounds per flight.
It seems to me that there's enough swing in the passenger and luggage loads such that the weight shouldn't make much of a difference. Suppose a men's rugby club books a dozen tickets instead of a middle school girl's gymnastics team. Each one of those guys could weigh three times as much as the girl. What do you do about that?
Sure, many domestic airlines no longer have life vests, but for the eighty pounds of weight saved, is it really worth the drama and customer disgust?
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
debbiedubrow Aug 25th 2008 10:58AM
Air Canada is really trying to lead the pack when it comes to nickel-and-diming passengers too. They've just started charging parents to bring strollers and carseats (on most airlines they're free because they're considered essential items)
Here's a link to the story:
http://www.deliciousbaby.com/journal/2008/aug/22/favorite-travel-stories-airline-fees-travel-gone-w/
James Aug 25th 2008 11:25AM
Life vests always seemed like a cruel joke. "In the event of a water landing" it would be the first time ever a jet had made a successful water landing in all the history or commercial aviation. I can think of only one attempted water landing that went spectacularly wrong (A hijacked plane off of the East coast of Africa) and in that case life vests were the least of the survivors problems. I dont know why any airline bothers with life vests except to salve nervous passengers they have no use.
On the other hand why dont carriers just charge realistic prices for tickets instead of this "nickel and dime" crap??????
Grant Martin Aug 25th 2008 11:29AM
Airlines don't charge higher prices because of the Southwest effect. Since Southwest still successfully hedges their jefuel they can afford to operate at lower costs -- and undercut the competition on prices.
So the legacy carriers think that they can remain "competitive" by charging SW prices and adding legacy fees.
maz Aug 30th 2008 7:35PM
Check your facts sir:
Tuninter Air, Flt. 1153, August 6, 2005, off the coast of Sicily, 39 occupants, 23 survivors, 59% survival rate
Aeroflot Tupolev 124, October, 1963, Neva river, 52 occupants, 52 survivors, 100% survival rate
ALM DC9, May 2, 1970, the Caribbean, 63 occupants, 40 survivors, 63% survival rate
Ethiopian Air Lines 767, November 23, 1996, off the Comoros Islands, 175 occupants, 45 survivors, 26% survival rate
Miami Air Lease Convair CV-340, December 4, 2004, Mall Lake, Florida, 2 occupants, 2 survivors, 100% survival rate
Pan Am Flt. 943 Stratocruiser "Sovereign of the Skies", October 16, 1956, in the Pacific between Honolulu and San Francisco, 30 passengers and crew, 30 survivors, 100% survival rate
Northwest Orient Airlines Flt. 2, Boeing Stratocruiser, April 2, 1956, ditched in 430 feet Puget Sound, 38 passengers, all survived the ditching but 4 could not recover the freezing waters, 87% survival rate
Though not a passenger plane, still relevant - Columbian AF C 130 Hercules, October 1982, en route between the Azores and Bermuda stayed afloat for 2 days!
*Information gathered from of Wikipedia
earodnom Aug 26th 2008 8:02AM
Once again, insanity rules...
earodnom@aol.com Aug 26th 2008 8:08AM
Once again, insanity rules...
ashumate3@aol.com Aug 26th 2008 9:41AM
If memory serves me it seems like airlines and ship are required to carry life vest by international agreement if they fly over oceans and seas or large bodies of water.
FARs Aug 30th 2008 6:17PM
Federal Aviation Regulations require that an approved flotation device be provided for each soul on board. Your seat cushion serves as an approved floatation device. However, overwater certified aircraft must also provide adult, infant and crew life vests, as well as rafts, etc. Regional jets, such as those flown by Jazz, are not overwater certified and therefore meet the requirement w/ the seat cushions. In fact, most airlines and do not provide (and never have) life vests on regional jets or domestic only certified planes, such as 737s. (And by the way Joyce, airlines do provide infant life vests.) All of this information is available on the Safety Breifing Card that passengers do not read and the Safety Demo they do not pay attention to.
maz Aug 30th 2008 8:09PM
Exactly, and Jazz does not.
tblttx Aug 26th 2008 9:54AM
This sort of thing is carrying things too far. Pretty soon, they will start charging for oxygen. The things will come down and one will have to put in a dollar in a device like on vending machines to get oxygen.
travelgal Aug 26th 2008 11:03AM
Well, for all you "global warming" enthusiasts, this is EXACTLY what is going to happen...Your and your family's lives are in PERIL because of the HOAX of global warming....Fight against this idiocy - or your lives will be more and more in peril ..(Did you know that fish are being polluted by all the extra fertilizer used to make corn - for "friendly" ethanol....And you know what, you are going to become ill - if not DIE - from eating food polluted by fertilizers....)
Cut the global warming crap or your life is in danger
aerogrl Aug 30th 2008 8:22PM
That is an extremely old and tired joke dating back to the airline bankruptcies of the early 1990s--get some new material...preferably your own.
CAMMY : ) Aug 26th 2008 10:23AM
uh, newsflash...every american flight i've ever been on uses seat cushions for floatation rather than vests. why is this news??
Seewcrazy@aol.com Aug 26th 2008 10:25AM
The airlines have gone nuts. What's next the seats and belts? And why do we need fligth attendants anymore? They don't have anything to serve HA!Airlines who fly over large bodies of water, such as oceans, need to have life vests.. You can bet the pilots have them. I flew for years, over both major oceans, but I am glad I won't be doing that in the foreseeable future.
lately Aug 30th 2008 8:28PM
Actually my dear, despite what you may think, a Flight Attendant's primary responsibility is to save your butt, not kiss it.
maz Aug 30th 2008 9:16PM
All overwater planes do have life vests, and while the previous person put is crassly, a Flight Attendant is on board for your safety above all else--and safety is never compromised. The standards are set forth by the FAA and airlines have no choice but to comply. Jazz's having EXTRA flotation devices was fine, but no airline would ever be permitted go below what is required. And I can assure you--the FAA checks. And the checks are completely random and unannounced. The fines imposed for ANY safety violations (even seemingly minor ones) are so steep that no airline would choice to compromise that. Passengers will not fly on an unsafe airline, no matter how cheap it is. Anyone remember ValueJet…?
Scott Aug 26th 2008 10:43AM
Saying that you can use your seat as a floatation device is like calling the floor mats in your car "emergency stopping sled" neither makes any sense.
mightyjm Aug 26th 2008 11:20AM
If the plane crashes, kiss your azz good bye! Water landings are no different than the ground except for the fact that the fuel that catches fire will float on top and burn you if your lucky enough to escape alive. A prayer will help you more than a floatation device.
Happy flying!
leebrneyes@aol.com Aug 26th 2008 11:37AM
When you add the cost of lifevests (with an expiration date) fleet wide, the cost of inventory, endless paperwork and inspections, calculate the cost of fuel per mile on a full schedule, time, training and staff, it adds up. An emergency slide on a 737 can cost 50k- a coffee maker can be 10k- and those bags of ice onboard? up to 20$....... The opportunity for saving ANY amount of money is closely looked at industry wide.
tracey Aug 26th 2008 11:38AM
It does not matter if you have a life jacket, a seat cushion, or a flipping inflatable raft...should a plane hit a body of water at 400 plus miles per hour, and if by some slim chance that aircraft manages to stay somewhat intact, absolutly no one on board is going to be in the state of mind to reach under their seat, place the lifejacket over their head, inflate it, and make their way to one of the six emergency exits as the cabin fills with ice cold water. Like it was mentioned above, life jackets are only on the plane to offer a false sense of security to the nervous flyer they honestly serve no purpose. As for those useless flight attendants...their purpose was never to "serve" you, the FAA requires them to be onboard to assist you in exiting the aircraft in an "orderly" fashion in the event of a crash...hahahaha. With that in mind, I've always wondered why they sit in the galleys and not in the EMERGENCY ROW..... Hey Airlines, want to save weight? Remove the flight attendants