As you fellow travelers to and from D.C. may know, ever since National Airport (DCA) re-opened after 9/11, passengers traveling through National are prohibited to get out of their seats during the first 30 minutes of departing flights, and the last 30 minutes of arriving flights. Not for much longer. From the Post:
Passengers at Reagan National Airport will no longer have to sit in their seats during the first 30 minutes of every departing and landing flight, the Department of Homeland Security announced today along with of a larger restructuring of the agency.
The elimination of the rule won’t happen immediately, but will begin shortly after the agency issues security directives to airlines, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said at a lunch with reporters and editors of The Washington Post.
He said it was time for the rule to be eliminated because he is confident that other security measures in place, such as hardened cockpit doors and better screening, make it unnecessary. The rule was put in place as a condition for reopening the airport after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.
It’s about time. Where the rule seems at its most inconvenient for the general flying public is on short flights, like to and from New York, where the 30-minute rule plus the normal procedure of being seated during takeoff and landing means you can’t get up from your seat at all for the duration of the flight.
One reply on “You are now free to move about the cabin”
I read that and YAY! I usually fly out of National; the other 2 airports are just too much trouble. One time the 30 mins was an issue: coming back into DC and I was standing up waiting to use the bathroom when the deadline came. The flight attendant let me stay out of my seat and use the facility, and was very nice about it. I guess they have had some discretion, and/or I don’t look much like a terrorist.