Flights: Flight Safety Precautions

There are many different safety precautions you can take during an intercontinental or international flight to make yourself less vulnerable to any safety issues. Here are a few ways to keep yourself and your family safe.

1. Try to fly on direct flights to reduce the number of stops. The biggest safety precaution to consider is a direct flight. If you have any layovers at any airports, you run a higher risk of losing a family member, missing a flight, having your passport stolen, the airline losing your luggage, etc. Because you have to switch planes, you open yourself up to all kinds of possible problems.

2. Keep two to three forms of identification on you at all time, preferably one or two with a picture ID, like your driver’s license and passport. If you are already running a little behind schedule, you may chance losing your flight or not being able to board at all. Some airlines are requiring that you have two forms of ID, at least one picture and one issued by the government. Without one or both of them, they will not let you on the plane. If you do not have your identification ready at the security check points, you are more likely to have to go through an entire investigative process before they will even consider letting you through. This safety precaution if taken could be the difference from being able to return home and not being able to. If you keep your identification in your purse or wallet, I would suggest taking it out and sticking it in your front pocket. It is much harder for a pick pocket to gain access to the front pockets. If you are in a foreign country, you will not be allowed to return home until you have a new passport issued, which can take a week or more. There are some exceptions to this, but not very often.

3. Count on everyone and everything you take onto the plane with you to be searched. If you don’t count on this and you do get searched, you may miss your flight, due to arriving at the terminal too late.

4. Do not go near unfamiliar or unattended packages or luggage and don’t go near suspicious looking people of any kind. You do not know what is in them or who left them there. If you see someone suspiciously lurking around, do not go near them. Immediately search for security and inform them of the situation. This can be very dangerous, so please if you don’t take any other safety precautions follow this one, especially if you have children. Make sure you tell them not to touch anything that doesn’t belong to them and to stay away from strangers. If they are old enough tell them why, if they are not, tell them anything you have to that will keep them away from strangers and strange or unattended packages or luggage.

5. A major safety precaution is wearing a seat belt through the entire flight. Many people take them off as soon as the light goes out. However, unexpected turbulence is common. The pilot, though heavily trained, cannot account for every air pocket that the plane will hit. There are too many ozone conditions, ocean conditions, water and air temperature conditions, etc. All of these conditions create what are called air pockets. These air pockets can cause a loss of 50 or 100 plus feet in a millisecond. You will not have time to prepare for something like this. Usually, the pilot understands where you are more likely to hit an air pocket, but as I stated above, due to the change conditions of the atmosphere, it is impossible for the pilot to be able to know exactly where everyone of these air pockets is.

6. Do not horse play in the airport or on the plane. All this does is make the pilot put the sign for a seatbelt on and could cause many serious problems, if done during flight. If done at the airport, you run the risk of being thrown out of the airport or possibly even missing your flight because you were not paying attention.

7. Listen to the staff while you are aboard the airplane. They will give you emergency situation instructions and any safety precautions, arrival information, and usually the pilot will inform you of any possible turbulence that the plane will experience.

All of these flight safety precautions should be followed to keep everyone on the plane including you and your family safe. No one wants to be in the next newspaper article that describes a horrific airplane crash, so try to take safety precautions. They are important to everyone.