Is it illegal to partially block the aisle on a passenger airliner?

Question

After reading all the commotion about the dog that died after its carrier was placed in the overhead bin, including the following comment:

United spokesman Charles Hobart said the flight attendant told the dog’s owner to put the pet carrier in the overhead bin because the bag was partly obstructing the aisle.

I wondered: is it against any FAA regulations to allow a flight to take off with a partially blocked aisle?

Offtopic but it doesn't make sense to me that the dog owner wouldn't open the overhead compartment every now and then in order to give the dog some fresh air — The Onin, Mar 18 '18 at 10:07

score 48 · Answer 1 · edited Nov 06 '23 at 19:35

48

Cargo cannot block the aisle -

FAR Part 121.285, governing U.S. Air Carrier Operations, states in pertinent part:

FAR 121.285 (emphasis mine)

(c) Cargo may be carried aft of a bulkhead or divider in any passenger compartment provided the cargo is restrained to the load factors in §25.561(b)(3) and is loaded as follows:

...

(4) Its location does not restrict access to or use of any required emergency or regular exit, or of the aisle in the passenger compartment.

edited Nov 06 '23 at 19:35

fooot

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answered Mar 16 '18 at 01:55

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There is also the "obey flight attendant" rule, so if the FA says get it outta there, that's stone tablets off the mountain. – Harper - Reinstate Monica Mar 16 '18 at 15:27
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@Harper Well, there's not an "obey the flight attendant rule" per se, but there is a "don't interfere with crew duties" rule. And also a "Pilot-in-Command can do pretty much whatever they want if they deem it necessary for safety" rule. – reirab Mar 16 '18 at 19:40
@reirab There is a limited but explicit "obey crewmember instructions about wearing seatbelts and not smoking" rule. – J W Mar 18 '18 at 11:16

score 18 · Answer 2 · edited Nov 06 '23 at 19:36

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It is illegal.

The minimum aisle width can be found in §25.815 Width of aisle. So you could be in breach of that if you shrink the aisle too much. Similar issues are discussed here but ultimately blocking the aisle is an evacuation time issue.

edited Nov 06 '23 at 19:36

fooot

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answered Mar 16 '18 at 01:55

Dave

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More importantly it is a food and drinks delivery issue – PlasmaHH Mar 16 '18 at 17:07
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@PlasmaHH True that. The only thing worse than an angry passenger is a hungry one – Machavity Mar 16 '18 at 19:12

Is it illegal to partially block the aisle on a passenger airliner?

2 Answers2