Airline Dumps Safety Gear To Save Fuel

Canadian Company Eschews Life Vests In Favor Of Better Gas Mileage

(AP)  Air Canada's regional carrier, Jazz, is removing life vests from all of its planes to save weight and fuel.

A Jazz spokeswoman says Canadian regulations allow airlines to use floatation devices instead of life vests as long as the planes remain within 50 miles of shore.

Safety cards in the seat pockets of Jazz planes now direct passengers to use the seat cushions as floatation devices.

Jazz is a transcontinental carrier that doesn't fly over the ocean. The planes do fly over the Great Lakes and along the Eastern seaboard. But the company says all of the flights are within 50 miles from shore and the number of its flights that fly over water is minimal.

[credibility2]

What happens to passengers that bail out using their seat cushions and lose hold of the cushion as they go under water? I guess it doesn''t matter if the passenger drowns. What''s next, the seats being removed to lighten the load, forcing passengers to sit on the floor and tether themselves to it? This is idiotic.

[haoli25]

Bring your own seat and life vest!!! lol

[zoopster1]

Gimme a break. What are the odds of surviving anything other than a normal landing on a runway anyway?

If you want real safety devices on a plane, give everyone parachutes instead.

[greeneyes222]

I guess the next step is to dump passengers. You know, sell them a ticket, just don''t let them board.

Sheesh.

[deacon20081]

So what comes next with the Airlines? Pay Toilets and nickle a square toilet paper, a Toll Charge to walk down the isle?
Flotation devices 15 minute hope your lucky device 5.00 - 30 Minute device 10.00 - 1 Hour flotation for a great buy of 100.00 each ! You can even take them home!

[sistatee-2009]

Squirt out a big brownie and hope it floats.

[eddom949]

Bad idea. Are they requiring an affadavit?

[yongamerica]

saving 50 pounds of weight, a small child and increasing the danger of passengers that fly over the Great Lakes. There is something else it is saving besides jet fuel. How much does it cost to inspect those life vests annually?

How about removing all the seats and making the plane stand up room only?

[creeper00]

Oh, for crying out loud! Talk about crying wolf!

U.S. airlines which don''t fly overwater removed their life jackets years ago. Your seat cushion is your flotation device. How much flotation do you need in a pond?

Good grief, CBS. Don''t you have anything better to do than sling this mud?

[kommoncents-2009]

Seriously. I''d like to see the numbers on how many people have survived a plane crashing into the ocean even WITH life jackets. Not many I bet. I say dump ''em and don''t charge me for my one suitcase.

[tryhonesty]

Brillant, brillant...Yalsa.

[keithle1]

Who cares. I don''t wanna fly anyway. American airlines nickle & dimeing everyone to death.
Pretty soon they''ll charge you for a seat belt
& to use the bathroom.

[blackyowe]

The fact is no one has ever survived a crash into the ocean. Maybe if a plane skidded into a river or onto a beach they might help but if you crash into the sea you dead anyway pretty much on an airliner.

[libsluv2spit]

soon enough the price of your airline ticket would pretty much depend on how much you weigh...