<p>I dress the same way for flights. Count me in as morbid when it comes to flying attire.</p>
<p>chuckledoodle - so next time when I see someone in sneakers and comfy clothes it’s because they just want to be prepared. I will remember not to sit next to them (no need to have nails dug into my arm). :)</p>
<p>But really guys, what’s the chance of survival if there is really a crash?</p>
<p>I never thought to dress for an escape, but I do take note of my proximity to exits. All our flights involve us leaving at 4am, freezing our butts off in the parking lot (or roasting to death on the way home) waiting for a shuttle, potentially sitting at the gate for a couple hours because for once security didn’t take long, and then usually passing out on the flight. We don’t usually sleep the night before, not worth it to wake up at 3am. Then there are the nights we’ve spent sitting in the gate waiting for a flight after a 6 hour delay. I believe in dressing practically, in in that situation sweat pants and/or comfortable jeans or shorts and sneakers are practical. Traveling is miserable enough without freezing or trying to take a nap on the plane in good clothes. Not to mention the wrinkles after sitting for that long.</p>
<p>TwistedxKiss, I think your shoes are great: appropriate, cute, and your own taste (if also dictated by your health concerns)</p>
<p>oldfort.</p>
<p>The most dangerous part of flying are the takeoff and landings. This is when most accidents occur. So yes, it is possible to survive a crash- think back to last year’s hudson river crash, sioux city iowa where the plane cartwheeled upon landing, potomac river etc… People do survive. </p>
<p>People generally believe that no one survives a plane crash. But according to government data, 95.7% of the passengers involved in airplane crashes categorized as accidents actually survive. Then, if you look at the most serious plane crashes, that’s a smaller number; the survival rate in the most serious kinds of accidents is 76.6%. So the point there is, when the NTSB [National Transportation Safety Board] analyzed all the airplane accidents between 1983 and 2000, 53,000 people were involved in those accidents, and 51,000 survived. That’s an incredibly high survival rate. </p>
<p>This info came from: [Q&A:</a> How to Survive a Plane Crash - TIME](<a href=“http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1872154,00.html#ixzz0femyQEjz]Q&A:”>http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1872154,00.html#ixzz0femyQEjz)</p>
<p>So basically it’s all about how prepared you are and the mental attitude. I think if you believe you won’t survive, you probably won’t. I know that if I’m ever in a plance crash, I plan on surviving. So every time I fly, I do what I can to make sure I’ll walk away alive. Just in case…</p>
<p>Plus a little luck never hurts. ;)</p>
<p>ChuckleDoodle, I was going to post exactly the same thing as you, but I was afraid people would laugh at me. I want to be able to run when I get off that burning plane.</p>
<p>I shouldn’t be thinking about this. My husband just called to say his flight out of Philly has been delayed, yet again. He is a very nervous flyer, far more so than I.</p>
<p>midmo. I tend to be a little more morbid than my hubby too. He comes from a long line of nervous flyers! </p>
<p>While I was in the US Air Force one of the jobs I had was as flight engineer on the C-141B Starlifter cargo plane. there are planty of stories I could tell… </p>
<p>One of the funnier sayings I learned came form one of the pilots I flew with- you have two bags (suitcases), one in each hand. You better hope your bag of experience fills up before your bag of luck runs out!</p>
<p>I saw a program about surviving an airplane crash a while back. From what the experts on television said, the greatest cause of death in survivable crashes is from a subsequent fire. Shoes with thick, leather soles are best because they insulate against heat. Vinyl-soled sneakers can melt, although they are better than flip-flops which are terrible for obvious reasons. Pantyhose is also a no-no because it can melt onto legs - ouch!</p>
<p>Counting rows to the emergency exit is also critical.</p>
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<p>Should people decorate their houses with wallpaper, paint, furnishings that are aesthetically pleasing to their own particular taste? Why? Isn’t that just another industry persuading us we need stuff that we don’t really need?</p>
<p>I really don’t see a lot of difference between decorating a house to one’s particular aesthetic style, enjoying art work in a museum, and dressing nicely when the occasion suits it. A life without aesthetic considerations – where all the clothes are sweatpants, where just-any-mismatched-old-sofa-and-curtains will do, and where there’s nothing on the walls doesn’t seem like a life that I want. One of the things that sets us apart from animals is that we appreciate beauty and things that look nice – whether it’s our home decor, a beautiful building or house that speaks to our aesthetic style, what we do to decorate our living space, and what we do to dress our bodies.</p>
<p>I’m with CD, I refuse to wear heels and a skirt on a flight because it would hamper my ability to run. Regarding cruises, honestly, the last thing I want to do is dress up for dinner every night when I am on vacation. So it is a good thing I don’t go on them, I guess. :)</p>
<p>There’s a compromise between a skirt and high heels vs. sweatpants and sneakers. A pair of black pants, cute flats, and a nice sweater or knit top is a comfortable outfit, doesn’t wrinkle, and looks nice. I always feel better when I look pulled together.</p>
<p>Intparent, I’m with you too. The last thing I want to do on vacation is get dressed up! Plus, I’m deathly afraid of drowning… you’ll never catch me on a cruise. Too afraid it will sink. I don’t like to go into water that’s over my head.</p>
<p>It’s funny. My MIL is deathly afraid of flying- has to get half lit in order to get on a plane but doesn’t have second thoughts about going on a cruise. Me? Give me a plane any day. Funny isn’t it-- how our phobias can be so different… ;)</p>
<p>As for the pantyhouse on an airplane? Never! When I used to fly, we were shown what happens when you wear nylon and it gets hot. One of the altitutde chamber folks showed us what happens when you put nylon inside a flight suit (made of nomex)… the nomex won’t burn but open the suit and you’d see a melted mess from the nylon. If that was against your skin when it burned it would leave craters (if you were lucky) or kill you. That goes for any kind of nylon- bras, underwear, etc. Cotton is the best- doesn’t melt as easily as nylon.</p>
<p>One of my kids did a science fair project a few years ago on the burning effects of different material and nomex. they had a lot of fun!</p>
<p>I do get dressed when I travel, not heels or skirt, but sweater/nice pants and loafers/nice bag. I have to say that I think I have been upgraded on flights and hotel rooms without been their frequent guest.</p>
<p>Oldfort, I agree. Good grooming and a pleasant manner can never hurt. And sometimes they help, a lot.</p>
<p>I think that establishments that enforce specific dress codes are obnoxious and pretentious. I also think patrons who show up in extremely inappropriate or dirty clothes are obnoxious. Maybe it’s because I’ve spent my entire adult life in NYC, and have seen dress codes used to discriminate in ways that are probably illegal, from clubs picking among crowds of eager young people (sometimes only letting in half of a group of friends – think Studio 54, yes, I’m ancient), to restaurants keeping out the “wrong element”. I’ve seen a sign in a Harlem restaurant that said “No Timberlands”. There are so many layers of socio/economic discrimination and ridiculousness there, I can’t even start.</p>
<p>Fortunately, things are considerably more relaxed nowadays. I’ve been to the opera on opening night where I’ve seen everything from red carpet gowns to jeans and parkas. The most loyal and rabid opera fans are up in the nosebleed section in jeans and sneakers. Those beautifully dressed patrons down in front row center? Those who are still awake at intermission often leave by then.</p>
<p>The last time I flew, I felt like I was on a cattle drive–the plane was delayed, the departure lounge was backed up with two flights’ worth of people, jammed shoulder to shoulder, many sitting on the floor for lack of seating, lots of cranky kids and crying babies. Once on board I drank my soda from a plastic cup and ate my mini bag of chips while being somewhat squished by the large gentleman next to me. Air travel was once a special occasion–now it’s an ordeal. I don’t worry about looking chic for an ordeal. And if anyone is offended by my jeans and sneakers, they can look the other way. I’m clean and polite and I smell good, and that’s all I expect of my fellow passengers.</p>
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<p>I do not consider dressing up a chore since I follow a very simple rule: if it takes more than 3 minutes to put on my entire outfit, undies and all, it is not something that I will ever wear. If an item of clothing cannot be cleaned without chlorinated solvents, I’m not buying it (I’ve washed silk, wool, cashmere, rayon, dress pants, lined skirts - you name it!). And if something needs ironing - good luck selling it to me! So for me, “dress up” is a very easy thing to do - a faux wrap dress, a necklace, and my favorite flats or heels (I usually try a lot of shoes to select a pair that fits my feet as if they are custom-made). In winter, I add tights, a little shrug or a pashmina and maybe boots instead of shoes.</p>
<p>Flying is a different thing - I make sure I wear socks because there are some fungus-infected bare feet travelling through airport security, and socks do not go well with dresses or skirts. It is a safety issue. :)</p>
<p>Many of you saying you wear sneakers for air travel, I hope you meant non shoe lace kind. I try to wear shoes that I could slip on and off very quickly, and no belt.</p>
<p>“I stopped going on Norwegian cruise because of their Freestyle cruise. If I wanted to see people in shorts and t-shirts(some people didn’t even bother to shower, straight from the pool to dinner) every night, I could have stayed home. I was absolutely shocked.”</p>
<p>I agree with the comment on inappropriate attire in cruise ship dining rooms. This is one reason I am going to avoid Carnival next time we cruise. When the dinner being served is elegant, the food presentation exquisite, the waiters formally dressed and pampering the patron, it somehow spoils the atmosphere if the diners are disheveled, wearing tank tops bearing more than I need to see and in dingy jeans (or worse shorts).</p>
<p>Can someone tell me how to quote a previous post within the shaded box like some of you do?</p>