Your safety could depend on an aisle seat

A study of more than 100 airline accidents and reports of 2000 survivors has show that the safest place for you to sit on an airplane is in an aisle seat – and one that’s close to an emergency exit.

The seats rating the best chances for survival are those in the exit row and in the rows immediately in front of and behind the exit row. This was the finding of the study that was carried out for the Civil Aviation Authority by Greenwich University.

In the event of a fire, passengers seated in rows two to five had a chance of escape that was rated as ‘better than even,’ but ”the difference between surviving and perishing is greatly reduced”.

Seats rated as the most dangerous are those that are six or more rows from an emergency exit, where ”the chances of perishing far outweigh those of surviving”.

These findings are prompting concern about a new trend in airlines to charge passengers more for exit row seats, and for providing the opportunity for some passengers to choose seats online.

The director of the Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety, Robert Gifford, commented: “Your chance of survival should not be based on your ability to pay for an emergency exit seat or to reserve your seat online.”

All aircraft must undergo an evacuation test to demonstrate that all passengers would be able to escape within 90 seconds, even with half of the exits blocked.

www.caa.co.uk