MONEY USA TODAY z MONDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2019 z 3B
TRAVEL
Question: Last weekend, a Jet-
Blue flight had to divert due to
smoke and an “electrical smell” in
the cockpit. What might cause that,
how big of a deal is it and has it ever
happened to you? – Anonymous
Answer:An electrical smell must be
considered a potential fire until it can be
conclusively determined otherwise.
Usually, it is a cooling fan or some other
electrical device that is hot but not a true
fire. An in-flight fire is one of the most
serious conditions a pilot can face.
Fortunately, actual fires are very, very
rare and pilots train for this situation.
I, too, have experienced electrical
smells and light smoke in the flight deck.
We were able to determine the source
and isolate the problem component.Q: Most of the country is preparing
to turn their clocks back on Nov. 3.
How much of a pain is this for flight
crews and dispatchers? And do they
have as much trouble as the rest of us
telling time in places likeArizona
where they don’t observe daylight
savings time? – Anonymous
A: When on short overnight stays
with outbound flights the following
morning, I have seen messages from
dispatchers saying, “Please remember
that tonight is the change to/from day-
light saving time.”
Flights that are already in progress at
the time of the change are not affected
because of the use of Universal Coordi-
nated Time, the worldwide standard. It
does not change.
The very few areas that do not
change are a challenge for crews to re-
member which time zone they are in
during the time of the year.
John Cox is a retired airline captain
and runs aviation consulting compa-
ny, Safety Operating Systems.ASK THE CAPTAINSmoke in thecockpit is notalways fire signJohn Cox
They’re inconsiderate. They irritate Special to USA TODAY
you. And sometimes, they infect you.
Wouldn’t it be nice if we could ban
passengers like that from the plane?
Two “no-fly” lists already exist. The
government has one, which is a subset
of the Terrorist Screening Database, or
terrorist watchlist.Airlines also main-
tain smaller lists of passengers whose
business is unwelcome. You can get on
it by threatening a crew member or mis-
behaving on a flight.
If you’ve been wondering whether
the airlines should expand their own
no-fly lists, you’re not alone. After a dif-
ficult summer for air travel, people are
looking for solutions. The idea of having
stricter standards for in-flight behavior
makes some sense.
Inconsiderate passengers
Joseph Flanagan, an engineer from
Golden, Colorado, thinks the kind of
passenger he sat next to on a recent
flight should be blacklisted.
“We were barely 10 minutes into the
flight when he pulled off both his shirt
and his shoes,” he recalls. “The sight of a
bare body in an enclosed public envi-
ronment was disconcerting. Then he
propped his damp feet on the chair in
front of him.”
Inconsiderate passengers come in all
shapes and sizes. They’re the ones who
occupy the bathroom for half an hour
while the other passengers grit their
teeth and wait. They’re the bin hogs who
place their carry-ons above your seat
and then walk 10 rows back.
Should passengers have to take a ba-
sic manners test before they’re allowed
to board? Passengers like Flanagan, and
others would support that.
Irritating passengers
One of the most irritating passen-gers, of course, is the one who talks non-
stop. Wouldn’t it be great if we could re-
quire passengers to take a monastic vow
of silence for the duration of the flight?
But that’s not the only thing that irri-
tates air travelers.
“Everyone who sits down in their seat
and then immediately reclines as far
back as possible should be banned,”
says Phillip Berg, who works for a library
in Cedar Knolls, New Jersey.
Airlines already are working on that
in their own way. Spirit Airlineslocks
some of its seats in place to keep pas-
sengers from fighting. Delta recently
implemented similar restrictions to
“protect customers’ personal space.”Infectious air travelersOne category of passenger that can –
and should – be banned – are people
who are ill. Sharon Lawrence, a mental
health therapist from Largo, Maryland,
says people who know they are sick
shouldn’t fly. She says if you have a po-
tentially infectious disease, you should
stay grounded. Unfortunately, airlines
take a dim view of people who cancel
their flights because they have a cold,
the flu or some other contagious dis-
ease. They rarely, if ever, offer a refund.
And in an age of highly restrictive “ba-sic” economy-class fares, you might
even lose your ability to change your
ticket and fly after you recover.
If passengers look sick or can’t
show a doctor’s note (stating they are
not infectious), an airline should keep
them from boarding – not just for their
own good, but the good of the other
passengers and crew. And they should
offer a full refund on the ticket, even if
it’s nonrefundable. But that’s not prof-
itable.What can be done about these
passengers?Expanding the airline blacklists is
easier said than done. Airlines must
carry out their responsibility to pro-
vide safe and secure air travel in a non-
discriminatory manner, according to
experts.
“Even though it is the case that air-
lines have rules in their contracts that
allow them to remove a passenger un-
der certain conditions, they have to
have a sound legal basis,” says David
Reischer, an attorney and CEO of Lega-
lAdvice.com.
He says Federal Aviation Admini-
stration regulations permit airlines to
remove passengers if the safety and
health of other travelers are affected.
“But such procedures do not allow for
the removal of a passenger without
proper legal justification,” he adds.How to not be one of those
passengerszKeep your volume down.Use a
headset, don’t talk loudly and only en-
gage in conversations with people who
want to talk to you.
zDon’t invade people’s space.A
plane is a shared space. Don’t lean
back unless you ask and receive per-
mission. Don’t hog the armrest. Don’t
sprawl.
zTake a shower before you board.
And use deodorant. You don’t have the
right to smell bad on a plane. Keep your
shoes and socks on, especially if you
have a foot odor problem.We have ideas for a flyer’s blacklist
On Travel
Christopher Elliott
USA TODAYHow many of us have wanted to shush
an overly chatty seatmate?
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