The spiel from the air hosts and hostesses at the beginning of each flight can too easily be ignored. Passengers are listening to their podcasts, browsing the in-flight magazine, wondering what they might order from the bar…
“We’ve heard it before,” people are saying to themselves. “The chances of an emergency actually occuring are so slim,” they’re thinking, surreptitiously touching wood.
But now, after the horror incident on Tuesday that saw a plane’s engine explode mid-air on a flight between New York and Dallas – and a woman killed when her window was shattered by shrapnel – the attentiveness of passengers to airline hosts is under scrutiny.
A series of photographs taken by terrified passengers were posted to social media throughout the ordeal and there’s a concerning element to the pictures taken.
As pointed out by travel expert and TV host Bobby Laurie on Twitter, hardly anyone is wearing their oxygen mask correctly.
PEOPLE: Listen to your flight attendants! ALMOST EVERYONE in this photo from @SouthwestAir #SWA1380 today is wearing their mask WRONG. Put down the phone, stop with the selfies.. and LISTEN. **Cover your NOSE & MOUTH. #crewlife #psa #listen #travel #news #wn1380 pic.twitter.com/4b14lZulGm
— Bobby Laurie (@BobbyLaurie) April 17, 2018
Former aviation professional Blair Keetch also added:
“As someone who used to fly over 250+ flights a year in a former job, you must listen to your flight attendants. At the very least, it’s polite not to ignore them and it’s possible that this could be life-saving info,” Keetch said.
LISTEN: We need to talk about plane etiquette. Post continues below.
The engine on the Southwest Boeing 737-700 exploded at an altitude of 32,000ft and the plane descended rapidly, by more than 3,000 feet per minute, NBC10 reports.