Why It's Harder on Some Flights To Get Up and Stretch Your Legs
May 26, 2004; Page D9
You're on a long flight and, heeding medical warnings, you want to stretch your legs. But these days, airline crews sometimes leave you trapped between security directives and the fully reclined seat in front of you.
The Transportation Security Administration told airlines in December to police gatherings of passengers on planes for possible security risks, especially near cockpit doors. Since then, different airlines have interpreted that recommendation differently. And frequent travelers say airline crews often unilaterally go further these days, even outright barring passengers from standing in the aisles and the galleys in the back of the plane.
That's what happened to Andy Thorson on a recent five-hour trip from Orlando, Fla., to Los Angeles on United Airlines. Four hours into the trip, he wanted to stretch. So he slipped into a rear galley of the Boeing 757, only to be shooed away by a magazine-reading flight attendant who said he wasn't allowed to congregate in a galley area for "security reasons."
"I told her I wanted to stretch a little bit, was aware that I could not go up front to do so and so was back here," says Mr. Thorson, a vice president at a California medical-products company. Then he asked, "Where should I go to stretch my legs?"
The answer, according to Mr. Thorson: "This aircraft, unfortunately, does not provide for that."
Five-hour flights without providing an opportunity to stretch?
United, a unit of UAL Corp., says that isn't its policy, and that its flight attendant was probably confused by another TSA security directive. The TSA has instructed airlines to ban passengers from congregating in any galley on international flights bound for the U.S., but not on domestic flights, says United spokeswoman Chris Nardella. "We want our customers to stretch their legs," she adds.
Officially, the TSA says it has directed airlines only to tell crews they can break up lines or gatherings if there might be a security danger. The directive went to airlines before the busy holiday travel season, about the same time the government raised the nation's threat status (to a "level orange").
"This measure empowered flight crews to take steps if they become uncomfortable with the situation on an airplane," says TSA spokesman Darrin Kayser.
Flight crews do have wide authority in the air. Federal law says passengers must comply with instructions of flight crews -- even if they don't agree with them. An airplane isn't a democracy, and there's good reason for that.
Yet while the security issues are real, a long airplane flight cannot be a lockdown just because flight attendants may be more "comfortable" that way. Besides basic human needs, medical studies have shown that long airplane flights can increase the risk of deep-vein thrombosis -- blood clots that form in the legs and that can be fatal. The ultra-dry cabin climate can dehydrate passengers, and sitting in cramped quarters for long periods can facilitate formation of blood clots, doctors say. Drinking lots of fluids and moving around are prudent precautions.
Still, airlines vary in their policies on wandering passengers. They all want you seated when the seat-belt sign is on, or when flight attendants are serving beverages. But after that, policies seem to range from lenient to leg-irons.
Delta Air Lines, for example, says it has no policy. "You're free to move about the cabin, as long as it doesn't interfere with the crew," says Delta spokeswoman Catherine Stengel. "We allow our customers to stretch."
AMR Corp.'s American Airlines, on the other hand, says its flight attendants sometimes ask passengers queuing up for bathrooms in the rear of the plane to sit down and wait; in short, it's up to the discretion of the flight attendants.
Continental says it asks passengers not to congregate near any lavatory, particularly the front. But flight attendants let passengers line up for the rear bathroom, even when lines get long -- as they often do when movies end or prior to the 30-minute stay-seated rule when flying into Washington's Reagan National Airport. Galleys are OK for stretching, a spokesman says, unless flight attendants have pulled closed the curtain the airline provides.
Northwest Airlines says its flight attendants monitor activity around the cockpit door and discourage congregating there, as the TSA security guidance suggested.
Every time there are new security requirements, there's a period of adjustment until both sides -- passengers and airline officials -- figure out the rules. It's probably time for better education for both passengers and flight crews of just what is acceptable in the airplane cabin these days, and what isn't.
• Write to Scott McCartney at middleseat@wsj.com2
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