RickSeaney.com

Search

Search Past Articles:

Categories

Archives

  • Blogroll

    • August 28, 2008

    Jazz Air: No More Life Vests Onboard

    Filed under: Airlines, Fuel Watch, Travel Safety — Rick Seaney @ 6:47 pm

    Do you ever wish you could get the flight attendants to skip that boring “here’s how to use the life vest/life jacket” part of their safety presentations? Well, according to a report on ABCNews.com, that won’t be a problem on Air Canada’s regional carrier, Jazz.

    Yes, Jazz is removing life vests from all its planes to save weight (and thereby, saving fuel).

    Now, it should be noted that Jazz does not fly over the ocean - but it does fly over the Great Lakes, and it seems to me they could qualify as mini-oceans. But not to worry: a Jazz spokesperson says, you can still use your seat cushion as a “flotation device”.

    You’re probably wondering what these vests weigh: well, we know a commercial vest weighs about half a kilogram — which is a little more than a pound.

    Okay, readers - sound off!
    « Zoom Airlines Goes Bust   Update: NO Labor Day Weekend Strike at LAX (Bag Handlers, Security, Etc.) »

    5 Comments »

    1. Um, what’s the big deal? NWA hasn’t had life vests on most of its domestic aircraft for years, just the ones that require it for their overwater operations ( A330, 747, 753, intl 752, etc).

      Comment by PFJCZYB — August 28, 2008 @ 8:16 pm

    2. I am from Dallas and I seem to always get the life vest video on my flights, so I hadn’t thought about it. Curious if this is common on non trans-oceanic flights to not have a life vest. The AP article seems to act like this is breaking new ground, but it appears it may just be normal and the most recent sign of the times.

      Comment by Rick Seaney — August 28, 2008 @ 9:26 pm

    3. They also fly to Victoria, which is on Vancouver ISLAND.

      Comment by bryan SFO — August 28, 2008 @ 11:24 pm

    4. Ah, “life vest video” - such a thing also doesn’t exist anymore on (virtually any) NWA domestic flight as they removed video equipment from (nearly all) domestic aircraft post 9/11, probably for the same reasons as removing the life vests: saving weight and money. Instead, the flight attendants read the safety demo script including the bit about using the seat cushion as a flotation device in the “unlikely event” of a water landing. Offhand, I don’t know of other major airlines who follow a similar practice WRT life vests but apparently there’s nothing illegal about it in the US or CA at least.

      Comment by PFJCZYB — August 29, 2008 @ 5:22 pm

    5. @bryan SFO - BTW, that distance between the mainland and Vancouver Island is less than the distance across Lake Michigan that dozens of NWA flights fly every day, for example between DTW and MSP or the west coast.

      Comment by PFJCZYB — August 29, 2008 @ 6:25 pm

    RSS feed for comments on this post. | TrackBack URI

    Leave a comment

    XHTML ( You can use these tags): <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong> .