If you have frequent flyer miles with British Airways and you can’t decide whether to turn them in for a free ticket to London or an upgrade to first class, has BA got great news for you. Instead of spending your points on a free trip or a bit of lavish pampering, now you can use them to buy yourself a chance to actually get to use the aircraft’s emergency evacuation equipment. That’s right, turn in your points and get the once in a lifetime opportunity to pretend you’re escaping from a plane crash.
As if flying five miles above the surface of the Earth didn’t make you nervous enough.
The emergency evacuation drill is a part of a class BA is offering in airplane crash survival skills. The class is designed to teach the basics necessary in order to increase your chance of surviving a fall from the sky at a speed of terminal velocity. As if there were much you could do while an airplane is going down except obey the “fasten safety belt” sign.
The manager at BA who runs the course in surviving a crash has stated that it, “…gives people so much more confidence in flying,” and that it, “…makes passengers safer when travelling by giving them additional skills and information.”
Additional information would be appreciated.
Let’s assume for a moment that this is true, that there is some sort of insider information that will both reduce your anxiety about having to trust in the power of lift and that could save your life if lift abruptly gives out. Shouldn’t that information be passed on to you during the important safety announcement preflight?
Oh, wait. It is. The BA safety course allows people ample time to practice the vital skill of buckling and unbuckling their seat belts. It also helps people learn where to find their safety equipment and how to put on that tricky oxygen mask and that seat-cushion floatation device. This is, after all vital information needed to survive in the aftermath of a plane crash. And it’s information that all of us are given every single time we get on a plane.
This is the most important thing you'll ever learn how to do.
That won’t stop BA from trying to charge you for a class in unbuckling your seat belt, though. Studies have found that this simple task eludes many passengers in an emergency. Not that being on fire, unconscious or just plain panicked might have something to do with the average person’s inability to extricate himself from his assigned seat.
But at the end of a grueling day of learning how to unbuckle that wily little fucker across your lap, you will get to slide down the evacuation slide.
Yipee! This is way better than first class would have been!
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/8803087/BA-offers-passengers-courses-in-surviving-plane-crashes.html
