Emergency row seating - pregnant

[sunshinebelieve]

We booked our holiday with easyJet at the beginning of the year, before I found out I’m pregnant. We always book extra legroom seats and chose the emergency row over the wing as per previous years.

I’ve just checked and pregnant women aren’t allowed to sit in these seats as it may involve opening heavy doors etc.

So what do I do? I’ll be 18.5 weeks on the way out, 19.5 weeks on the way back. WIBU to think a baggy jumper could disguise it - I have two tall, strong adult men with me in our row.
Or should I fess up and face being moved on my own? Or possibly worse if no one agrees to swap?

YABU - fess up and move seats
YANBU - just wear the baggy jumper and say zilch!

Would you be unable to sit on your own, even nearby? They usually ask people in the vicinity of the exit to volunteer for a swap.

It’s not implausible to not be aware you are pregnant so I’d just roll with it. No one is going to ask unless you are visible heavily pregnant

I’ve just checked and pregnant women aren’t allowed to sit in these seats as it may involve opening heavy doors etc.

this surely answers your own question does it not?

Although if you don’t want to sit there deal with it at the gate or on the plane. Say you didn’t realise and ask them to swap with someone who want the leg room.

At less than 20 weeks no one is going to be able to tell whether you are pregnant or just a bit pudgy round the tummy.

Usually the cabin crew will ask the people in those seats to confirm that they are willing and physically able to help in an emergency. I assume you won’t be able to do that and will need to inform them. And they’ll move you to a different seat.

Why would a passenger be opening a heavy door ?

In case of an emergency landing you might need to open the exit door to allow people to escape. Not all emergency landings are ‘planned’

Someone will bite your arm off for the extra leg room, I wouldn't worry about a swap.

Can you get row 1 seats?
They have extra legroom but no emergency exit requirements

I doubt it's very common but it does happen. I read an account of the flight that landed in the Hudson River soon after 9/11 (the one in the Tom Hanks film Sully) and a lot of passengers owed their lives to the guy in the emergency exit who realised their was a problem and carefully rehearsed how to open the passenger door so he was able to do it quickly when instructed

You need to tell the cabin crew. You already know you shouldn't be sitting there.

Get the 2 men to sit next to the door and they probably won't even be interested in you. They ask the people right next to the door if they are fit and able to manoeuvre it in my experience.

You will have no problem finding someone to swap to the extra leg room seat. When we flew with 15 year old, 6ft 3 DS he wasn't allowed to sit in emergency exit seat for take off and landing but was allowed to move once in the air.

In the event of an emergency

You know the rules if they say no pregnancy and an accident happens...they could refuse you to board or move you of you are lucky...is tell them..it's important

YABVU. Rules are there to protect the safety of you and other passengers.

If your medical records show that you have spoken to any professional about being pregnant and you haven't declared it to your insurer, then your travel insurance will be invalid and they won't pay up if there is any incident during your holiday.

If you do declare your pregnancy to your insurer but don't declare it to the airline and sit in a row that is forbidden fir pregnant passengers, then im the event of any incident on the plane that leads to a claim, your travel insurance will be invalid and they won't pay up.

Or are you a happy-go-lucky traveller who plans to use a crowd-funding platform to make other people pay if there's an expensive holiday incident rather than paying for insurance?

I'm very confident that when pregnant I'd be far more capable of opening the door than many non-pregnant women. I'd swap because I'm a rule follower but it wouldn't necessarily be logical. There are some tremendously unfit people about.

I thought it was just the passenger nearest the door that needed to be able to open it, not the whole row needing to get involved! I was sat on that row on a recent flight and nobody asked me anything. I'm 5 foot nothing too with no upper body strength so probably less capable of opening a heavy door than your average taller pregnant woman.

If the 2 men you are with sit in the window and middle seat I doubt they will be bothered about you at all.

I am intensely risk adverse couldn’t do it. Not because I think pregnant people are incapable, but because I hate doing anything risky re insurance. Just too many ways they can avoid paying out and I don’t want to hand them another.

The times have been in exit rows (a lot as we book them for leg room) the whole row is asked specifically that they can open the door in an emergency.

I wasn’t showing at that stage, I suppose it depends how big you’re going to look!

Ha! You never saw me pregnant then 🤣

Because they’re by the emergency exit, you’re told that could be your responsibility in an emergency.