As far as I know, no airline is allowed to have seats placed right in front of the exit door.
ISLAMABAD: On January 15, I flew from Islamabad to Karachi. Suffering from a stiff-back and needing some extra leg space I requested the airline official at the check-in counter for a seat in the row next to the emergency exit since these have more legroom and are close to the exit. The official was kind enough to approve my request — or so I thought — and issued me a boarding pass for Seat 10B.
I boarded and, to my surprise, found that my seat was in the row of seats right in front of the exit door, not adjacent to it, as was my request. However, that didn’t matter because there was also a row of seats right in front of the exit door! I couldn’t believe my eyes because as far as I know, no airline is allowed to have seats placed right in front of the exit door.
For my return journey from Karachi to Islamabad, I again noticed this startling occurrence. How could the airline in question do this since, in case of an emergency, passengers are suppose to use an exit that is close by? No exit can be blocked off, least of all by a row of seats!
This is clearly a case of an airline trying to gain more revenue, but is a clear safety risk. Why doesn’t the Civil Aviation Authority look into these matters?
Khalid Idrees
Published in The Express Tribune, January 26th, 2012.
