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1. When you first take your seat on the airplane, check out where the nearest exit door is. Count the number of rows and note which side of the plane it’s on.

2. Then, make a fallback plan – check where the next closest exit is and do the same.

3. Pay close attention when the flight attendant gives you the emergency instructions – don’t rely upon them to give you good instructions should an actual emergency arise. For example, we had no advance notice, and the only instruction I got at the emergency door was this: “Get out! Get out! Get out! Get out!” coming from a very young flight attendant who, I think, was even more panicked than the passengers were.

4. Always carry important items on your person – don’t pack them in you carry-on bag, or your purse, or your computer case – chances are you won’t be able to reach them when you’re told to evacuate – and the last thing you want to do is try to get things out of the overhead bins at a time like this. Critical items include the following:

• Passport (if you’re traveling internationally)
• Airplane ticket
• Cell phone / PDA
• Driver’s license
• Car Keys
• Important Medications
• Enough money for a taxi, hotel, etc.

5. If you can, grab your purse before you leave. I know that differs from official procedures, but you can throw it out on the ground before you jump.

I was involved in an airplane accident once, and you wouldn’t believe how many times I was asked for the same information, over and over: my passport number (I don’t have it memorized, do you?), what flight I had been on, who to call? For me, that meant notifying people in four different countries, most of whom I had never memorized their [international] phone numbers. (Even once I got to the hospital, I was awakened at 11:00 p.m., at 1:00 a.m., and at 3:00 a.m. to answer the same questions yet again by yet another authority!)

6. Pack copies of all these documents in your checked luggage. If one is lost or damaged, perhaps the other will still be available.

7. Be sure all of your luggage, including your hand luggage that you carry on the plane, is tagged with your name so that it can be returned to you if you have to evacuate the plane. (I left my coat – it was zero degrees Celsius that day, my company laptop, as well as my personal hand luggage behind when I evacuated and airplane personal had to go retrieve it for me once the plane had been cleared).

8. Ladies – I suggest you start wearing cargo pants, or similar clothing, whenever you fly. Men usually have plenty of pockets and do tend to carry these items on their person, whereas women tend to carry them in a purse or other carry-on bag.

9. Make sure that someone knows what your travel itinerary, and expected travel dates, are.

10. And, if you’re ever asked to jump down an evacuation slide – be sure to look before you leap. If people who’ve preceded you don’t get up off the slide right away, it can change the angle of the slide so that it becomes almost a straight descent, without any cushioning support available when you jump.

If you’re a “Road Warrior” who’s away from home way too much – or even if you’re just an occasional flyer – I hope that you will take these tips to heart – they just might save your life some day.

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Discover how you can afford your next vacation by getting discounts up to 80%, click: Primo Vacation Discounts.

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