New study reveals in-flight risks and dangers for millions of older travelers on planes

Older travelers who may be limited in their dexterity should be spread out across a flight's seating - not just for their own safety, but for the safety of everyone on board, scientists say.

The team compared three different cabin layouts with three different ratios of passengers over age 60 - and three different distributions of those passengers for the study.

To seek the most efficient combination of factors, the research team created full-scale computer-aided design models of the A320 cabin and used Pathfinder - the industry-standard software for evacuation modeling - to simulate passengers' behavior. 

The findings were published in AIP Advances, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Institute of Physics. The results showed that the proportion and location of elderly passengers had the largest effect on evacuation time.

The fastest option - a layout that accommodates a total of 152 passengers with two rows of first-class seats at the front, and 30 elderly passengers evenly distributed throughout the cabin - still required 141 seconds for all passengers to reach the ground.

That's much longer than current FAA mandates.

"Elderly passengers introduce specific challenges in emergency evacuations due to slower reaction times, reduced physical mobility and a higher likelihood of requiring assistance," the study authors noted. 

The research team said it hopes that incorporating that information from its findings - for example, by offering additional safety briefings to elderly passengers - could help further accelerate the de-boarding process.

The U.S. Department of Transportation says on its website, "Airlines must always comply with FAA and foreign government safety rules. There are FAA and foreign government safety rules that may restrict certain passengers with disabilities from sitting in an exit row seat."

The site also notes, "Be aware that while an airline is not required to allow you to select a specific seat, it is required to provide you a seat that meets your needs (with certain limitations for bulkhead seats and emergency-exit seats)."

It also notes that those who have "a disability and would prefer or need a certain type of seating accommodation … should contact the airline at the time you make your reservation to learn more about the method that the airline uses to make arrangements for a seating accommodation."