Never attempt to retrieve your phone from between the seats of an airplane. Seriously, DO NOT!
You may just think that dropping your phone, bending down, and picking it up is a relatively innocent activity. However, at the time you want to perform this common action in a confined space such as at altitude on an aircraft, it turns into a life-threatening situation faster than you could imagine.
Seats on an airplane are not simply cushions or sides of the seats; underneath the cushions are a series of mechanical workings including metal frames, moving tracks, reclining systems, and the like. If your phone falls into this gap between the seat and the armrest, it has the potential to travel deep into one or more of these components.
Now, what are the consequences if the next person to sit down moves the seat while your phone is trapped in it?
You guessed it! Your phone becomes crushed!
Many smartphones today use lithium-ion batteries, which can be damaged during the crushing process and lead to them overheating, and/or venting flammable gases, and under extreme conditions, actually catch fire. This is NOT something you want to happen at 30,000 feet while you’re flying.
If you accidentally drop your phone into the space between the seats on an aircraft, immediately contact a flight attendant. You may feel this is an unnecessary action; however, you absolutely MUST contact one of the crew members to assist you in retrieving your phone because they are trained to safely remove your phone by accessing areas of various airplane seat designs without breaking or damaging anything.
Additionally, the retrieval of the phone is done without potential for harming either your phone or your finger.
Also, speaking of fingers… it’s not just potentially damaging to your phone if you are attempting to retrieve your phone yourself, but there have been some reports of people getting their hands stuck or pinched between the mechanisms of the seat.
The same reason why the airlines do not want phones dropped, they will not allow power banks and some electronics to be in your checked bag is because if the item gets hot, the airline wants to be able to see and address it quickly; they do not want to have to do that with it in the cargo area.
Some airlines have started even further tightening up the restrictions on carrying items in your checked luggage; some are banning items, such as wireless headsets, because of fire concerns.
It’s extremely common to drop your phone during a flight. It can happen when you are shifting around in your seat or getting up from your seat or rummaging through your bag, so clearly this is not an unusual situation and could easily happen to anyone at any time during the course of their flights.
Trying to grab your phone and getting back to your routine, my instinct would be first to grab my phone. If you try to grab your phone again, it could have serious consequences due to the hidden seat mechanism or lithium batteries in some mobile devices.
If your mobile device inadvertently falls out of reach, on your next flight try to avoid doing a DIY rescue mission or trying too help yourself, but instead have the in-flight crew assist you in retrieving your lost mobile device; otherwise, implementing your instinct to retrieve your lost mobile device will only cause you and/or others many more issues than what it would have been worth to have allowed the in-flight crew to do the retrieval.
