4 days ago
The surprising reason cabin crew seatbelts are different from yours
At the end of a flight, it's common to hear the pilot giving the cabin crew a time countdown – usually between 10 and 20 minutes before landing.
As you descend, you might be watching the city lights below get closer and closer, or even nosying at the stewards preparing to deplane.
And when they sit down in the final moments of the journey, you may also end up wondering why their seatbelts look different to yours.
While passengers simply need to buckle across their laps, flight attendants have extra, sturdier straps across their chest to take care of.
The reason for this has long troubled travellers, so much so that it's made it onto countless Reddit threads.
Under r/NoStupidQuestions, @MAJOR_ZEN previously asked 'why do flight attendants have the cross-body 'X' seat belt on their seats, whereas passengers only get the horizontal ones across the waist?'
Fuel your wanderlust with our curated newsletter of travel deals, guides and inspiration. Sign up here.
In the comments section, former cabin crew member @wishiwasyou333 recalled working on smaller 50-seater jet where their 'jump seat wasn't bolted to the aircraft other than the rails attached to pull it out of its compartment.'
'We needed the extra harness because that thing was bouncy as hell on a normal takeoff and landing, along with much less padding than the passenger butts got,' they explained. 'When s*** hits the fan, you absolutely want the flight attendants to be safe.'
'You're expendable, the flight attendants are not,' added @diemos09, while @dyne0mite86 said: 'They're more valuable than you or the luggage.'
Over on r/askscience, @WATErWouldBeNice posed a slightly different question: Why don't all plane seats use three-point belts like cars?
'Seatbelts on planes are primarily a protection against turbulence,' @HobbesNJ responded, claiming keeping 'passengers in their seats is the main goal' – and there aren't typically 'any circumstances' in the air where 'the problem is forward momentum.'
Aviation expert and professor of aviation management at Dublin City University, Marina Efthymiou, tells Metro that it's actually a 'matter of a trade-off between comfort and safety.'
As Marina explains, passengers likely 'wouldn't keep their seatbelts on if they were like the ones cabin crew wear. And, in case of an emergency, they wouldn't be able to get them off fast enough during evacuations.'
The seats themselves are also different, and since 'cabin crew seats are in spaces that do not offer any additional protections, the belt provides more stability.'
'The main factors in the difference between seatbelts is ease of use, and speed of evacuation,' she concludes.
Since the job of cabin crew is to keep passengers comfortable as well as safe, they have a few tricks up their sleeves to help particularly nervous flyers. More Trending
37-year-old Meryl Love, who is a flight attendant for an international airline, previously told Metro that she has a special trick to help calm peoples' nerves.
'I know that the passengers will be looking at me, to see how I react – especially if the turbulence is bad enough that the cabin crew have to take their seats,' she shared.
'So, I plaster on a huge fake smile on my face. I'll pretend to laugh at a joke, and basically just look really happy. It's a whole routine, and it seems to work.'
Do you have a story to share?
Get in touch by emailing MetroLifestyleTeam@
MORE: I always play 'check-in chicken' on flights – it works a treat
MORE: Could London be the next city to introduce a tourist tax?
MORE: UK airport gets new TUI flights to quirky European capital dubbed the 'city of baths'
