Study: Why Families on a Plane Should Be Nearby
Researchers from the Royal Aeronautical Society of Great Britain have published a report, Evacuation in Commercial Passenger Aircraft.
The paper concludes that placing family members in seats at different ends of the cabin would be dangerous for all people on board. The results of the work are reported by The Telegraph.
It is clear from the report that members of the same family who are sitting in different parts of the plane will not have time to evacuate in an emergency situation, because they will start looking for each other.
The researchers are asking airlines not to charge for the ability of the whole family to be around: this is extremely important during evacuation, decompression or air turbulence, when assistance and supervision of an adult is required.
The report says that the search of separated passengers of their relatives affects the speed of movement of other people to emergency exits. Children accompanied by adults should be seated in a row with them and separated by no more than one aisle. When this is not possible, no further than one row forward/back from the adult.
Other recommendations: automatic locking of shelves for hand luggage during an emergency situation. During evacuation, people rush to their belongings, and this can also pose a danger to all passengers on board.
In 2017, there was a scandal around the airline Ryanair (Ireland). The carrier introduced an increased tariff for choosing a seat in the cabin, because of which families complained about separation from children. The company began proceedings.