How bad are things in the airline industry? So bad the regional Canadian airline Jazz has decided to ditch life vests as a cost-saving move. Jazz can get away with it because Canadian regulations say that seat cushions are sufficient if the planes stay within 50 miles of the shore.
Jazz spokeswhore Manon Stuart said: “We used to carry both the flotation device, which is the seat cushion, as well as life vests. The nature of our operations doesn’t require that we carry both”. But Newfoundland politician Woody French disagrees: “They are going to save about 50 pounds [per flight]. Taking off 50 pounds is not going to make a hell of a lot of difference to the fuel consumption”. Mr French has been trying to get the Canadian parliament to pass a “passenger’s bill of rights” for beleaguered travelers in our neighbor to the north.
I can’t say that I disagree with him on this one. I just hope the American carriers don’t hear about this. The next thing you know, they’ll be taking out the oxygen tanks too!
Read the sad, sad tale here.