Source: www.unitedafa.org

A new Hotboard item was issued on December 18^th regarding the FAA required exit row verification process. As mandated by Federal Air Regulations (FARs) and the Flight Attendant Operations Manual (FAOM) on page 3.110.9, the exit row verifications must include a visual and verbal assessment that a passenger is qualified, willing and able to fulfill exit row requirements.  Per company policy, they must be completed and that information relayed to the purser no later than five minutes prior to closing the boarding door.

To clear up any confusion, you are required to complete all of the exit row briefing steps in the following order as summarized below:

• Assess: Visually ensure each passenger sitting in an exit row seat meets the passenger selection criteria listed on page 3.110.9 of the FAOM.
• Direct: Ask each exit row passenger to review the exit row seating criteria on the front and graphics located on the inside of the safety card
• Return: Return when the passenger has finished reviewing and ask, “Do you meet all the criteria and are you qualified, willing and able to perform all the functions on the safety card for this exit?” The passenger must respond verbally.

The above procedures supersede the actual FAR requirement; however they have been approved by the FAA. Thus, Flight Attendants are expected to execute these procedures in the exact manner as stated in the FAOM.

Exit row verifications must be completed by the assigned Flight Attendant and must not be delegated except for safety reasons only. If you are assigned a greeter position and also have exit row verification responsibilities, you should use the “fill-the-hole” concept to find a Flight Attendant to greet while you are completing your exit row responsibilities. Once it has been determined that all the passengers sitting in the exit row meet requirements, notify the purser that the exit row verification has been completed. Ideally, verification and notification should be done five minutes prior to the door closing, so that the purser can ensure that all FAR requirements have been met and provide confirmation to Customer Service.  As always, if you find someone who is not qualified, they must be reseated. Notify the purser immediately of this fact, so that the aircraft door is not closed prior to all FAR requirements being met.

It is understandable that there may be confusion around the Flight Attendant responsibilities, due to the lack of training and clear direction from United regarding the exit row verification process. If you find yourself unable to complete these tasks in the time allotted due to extenuating circumstances such as the current staffing levels, task saturation or any other reason, you should file an OSAP report detailing why you were unable to fulfill your exit row responsibilities. A direct link to file an OSAP report can be found on our website at unitedafa.org.