Guess what? A British airline’s flight got grounded because their seat cushions were just too darn soft. Apparently, having squishy seats is a big no-no in case of emergencies.
Here’s a heads-up for all you travelers out there: those seat cushions at the emergency exit rows? They’re supposed to be on the thinner side. You know, to make it easier to move around if something goes south. It’s all about safety and legroom, folks.
So, according to Independent, on Sunday (February 11, 2024), an airline in the UK had their plane held back in Italy because the seat cushions at the emergency exits were too plush. This discovery came during a surprise check by Italian aviation officials.
The plan was for the Airbus A320neo to jet off from Milan, Italy, to London Heathrow on Monday (February 5). But thanks to the seat snafu, the flight got put on pause.
One passenger even shared the whole ordeal on TikTok, calling it a “pretty hilarious scene.”
To fix the problem and stick to safety rules, the flight attendants tried to swap out the cushy cushions for thinner ones. How did they do it? By calling out seat serial numbers and asking passengers to play matchmaker with their seats.
“Basically, the airline had standard cushions for safety reasons. So, we checked under the seats for any spares. If we couldn’t find any, we had to deplane because it wasn’t safe to fly,” the TikTok account explained.
Thankfully, they managed to find a suitable replacement cushion, which met the safety standards for emergency exit rows. The flight ended up being delayed for an hour because of the whole seat situation. But hey, at least the plane, packed with passengers, eventually took off.
This whole ordeal left netizens scratching their heads. They wondered why anyone was messing around with the seats in the first place.
“Since when do we let passengers tinker with seat mounts? Shouldn’t that be left to the pros?” one person questioned.
But others gave props to the airline for making sure they followed safety rules, even if it meant a bit of seat-swapping drama.