Rundosrun

I noticed over the years that it seems AC pilots turn on the seatbelt sign at the slightest bump of turbulence. In my experience, other carriers like United, ANA, Lufthansa etc have a way higher threshold for asking people to fasten their seatbelts. It can be annoying as it limits hot beverages, getting stuff from your bag, bathroom visits and so on.

Does anyone know if there's a TC rule about this or is it a cultural thing?

canadiancow

I'm only Silver on UA, but... Huh?

No. UA, and all the US airlines, are way worse.

My vast majority of UA experiences are "Ladies and gentlemen, we've now reached out cruising altitude of 38,000 feet, so I'll *ding* turn off the seatbelt sign."

I haven't flown enough other airlines to have a good data set. 887 flights on AC, 124 on UA, but only 28 on LH, and it's a long tail from there.

I don't think 28 is enough for an informed opinion, but my very limited experience on LH is they treat their seatbelt sign pretty similarly to AC.

SKYEG

Same experience for me as CC’s. I’ve flown mostly USA legacy airlines since moving to the states and the seatbelt sign is always on until the last second and flicks on at any sort of turbulence.

AC probably around the same at the worst but definitely not more. I don’t fly AC enough to notice or use the much but I found AC seems to work around serving drinks the best they can during light turbulence. AC agents are also the only ones that always proactively change my drink into plastic cup if near landing. Never had to waste a drink! They aren’t nice like that most the time at UA/AA in my
experience. I had a recent flight on AA where they left it on whole flight for almost no reason… no service at all! It was a e75 though.

TheViperOne

We have a running joke sometimes in ATC that we call AC “Air Chop”. They are always talking about “light chop” more than any other airline and asking how the rides are ahead.

While it can be annoying for us when we are super busy, I would say that it means that Air Canada pilots are genuinely concerned for the comfort and ride of their passengers. Obviously the pilots don’t care about turbulence at all as they are used to it and fly in it daily. But they seem to be very concerned for the passengers, which is a good thing.

There are some European airlines that have flown thru severe turbulence reports without changing altitudes, or we will ask how their ride is and they will say they’ve been in constant moderate to severe turbulence for 10 or 15 minutes and not even told us about it. Because the pilots don’t care and are used to it.

So, to answer your question, yes I do believe they have a lower threshold for it. But I think they have the passenger and customer in mind and it’s a good thing.

PaulYK

It does seem to me that pilots are often being overly cautious with turning the seatbelt sign on and that they sometimes forget to turn it off for a while, though I appreciate that even if there is no turbulence they may not have forgotten and are waiting to clear an area they expect turbulence. I think flights would benefit from a traffic light system. The sign could be red for take off/landing and periods of potentially dangerous turbulence; yellow for periods of mild or possible turbulence where passengers can choose to leave their seats but should be extra cautious if they choose to do so; and green for periods where turbulence is not expected. Passengers with mobility issues might choose to only leave their seats when green, while those passengers who are more comfortable with turbulence could use the bathroom, etc. when yellow.

zkzkz

I find Air Canada turns on the light perhaps slightly less than European airlines. But more importantly they don't leave the light on forever either.

But by FAR the worst offender is AA. It seems AA crew have a company culture of the seat belt sign being a purely advisory and therefore having no downside to just leaving it lit all the time. When I've complained that it was still on after 30 minutes of calm flying the FAs just said I was free to use the washroom and ignore it. That seems to be one of the few aspects of AA service that's consistent between the different crews.

The Lev

I find (anecdotally) that AC is quicker to turn on the seat belt sign at the first sign of mild turbulence than other airlines I've flown.

I believe the AC policy is that once the seat belts sign is turned on, the sign stays that way until there has been five minutes of clear air.

Lomapaseo

There seems to be two issue here involving threshold levels

First issue is the pilots decision based on routing forecasts adjusted to the onset of buffeting (The pilots call)

The second is a hidden from passengers cabin crew requests to the pilot

I've experience both and decided it's really not my call and to suck-it-up

Rundosrun

Interesting info and anecdotes from folks. I've been flying ANA a ton this summer and I can't recall a single time they turned the seatbelt sign on mid-flight, despite some bumpy rides. Didn't know if it was just a risk tolerance difference based on culture or something.

HerpaYvr

I do not think it matters. I see the seatbelt light on when it's smooth and folks still get up to go to the little room. When you have to go, you have to go!

Just because the light comes on, does not mean you need to comply......you can be a rebel and not, just like tearing the tag off of your mattress.......there is no mattress police, be a rebel, live a little.

p106_peppy

I haven't noticed any pattern, I'm pretty sure it's just the pilots discretion.

I have, however, noticed that AC flights usually have less turbulence than other airlines. I attribute this to our colder Canadian and Arctic air which makes flying smoother. There is more turbulence in warmer regions, which AC has fewer flights to.

zappy312

I think it's at the discretion of the crew. The seatbelt light is basically an extension of the crew's instructions, if they tell you to be seated with your seatbelt fastened, you should comply.

There's been FAs who have been lax about going to the lav while the seatbelt sign is on, "You can go, just be careful" and some that lean more towards "It's not the best time to go, but you can go if it's an emergency". I remember one who said "I can't stop you if you need to go".

That being said, passengers are still required to comply with the flight crew, so if they tell you to sit down and fasten your seatbelt, you should comply, or risk being told off for non-compliance.

TheViperOne

ATC often have a very good picture of where the turbulence is and how bad it is. When you think about it they have hundreds of planes through over the course of a morning or afternoon always getting updates on which altitudes are bad and where. We relay this information to the pilots so they know what to expect coming up. You may just be in an area of light turbulence and decide to go up and use the bathroom but he pilot has been told about and is expecting moderate soon and they put the sign on preemptively.

In short, you don’t know what’s coming. In all reality neither do the pilots. Weather changes at the drop of a hat. It’s unpredictable. So if possible you should follow the light whenever possible outside of an emergency.

Bohemian1

I tend to be very compliant wrt the seatbelt sign. But earlier this year, I had Cpt. Iron Bladder on an AC YVR-YYZ morning flight (108?).

Blue skies and smooth sailing, but I had to complain to an FA to get him to turn the sign off over 25 minutes after departure. I'm pretty sure he just forgot.

Needless to say, there was a rush for the lavs.