No turbulence, people walking BUT seat belt sign always ON. Is that normal?

Question

Hi guys, I'm italian and yesterday I flew from Newark to Milan with Continental. I have a question for you: even if my travel was (almost) smooth except for some turbulence that sometimes occured unexpectedly, the seat belt sign has been on for all the duration of the flight. And the strangest thing was that anyone could move into the cabin without any problem!! I mean, the seat belt sign was on (for 8 hours!) but no one respected it and passengers and cabin crew walked normally! Do you think it's normal and does it happen on every flight?

Answer 1

sounds like the pilot forgot to turn the light off when they reached altitude.  happened to me last week from detroit to san antonio.

Answer 2

that's the problem with pilots leaving it on for so long, nobody respects it and you aren't expected to hold on to your bladder for the whole duration of the flight are you. it's not normal and definitely doesn't happen on every flight however there are reasons why it happens and i find the most likely is that the captain is covering his *** (legally) by keeping it on in case of turbulence and someone gets injured and a distant second is that they forgot.

Answer 3

Definetly not normal, but the crew probably knew the ideal situation for moving about the cabin. Although, its not safe unless the captain clears it. As for the people, were they using the restroom? That could be the only exceptional thing in this case.

But to answer your question... No, its not normal.

Answer 4

It's normal. The pilot most likely forgot to turn off the set belt sign. The cabin members were probably moving around because they knew that they had reached a good altitude and that it was safe. The passengers were probably moving to use the restroom or if not they probably just followed the cabins crews lead at walking around. It's happened to me more than once.

Answer 5

Sometimes the crew know almost the areas where high turbulence is present so the crew for pax comfort leave the sign on Or if they chose to off the sign they would say "...however for your safety please let your seat belt remain fastened."

Well for crew that doesn't want to be bother by pax with requests they let the sign on to dissuade pax movement and could say "we'll be with you as soon as the sign is off."

Next time you can call their attention if it is alright to move with the seat belt sign is on.

Answer 6

the rules for seat belts on is only during takeoffs, landings and moderate to heavy turbulence, otherwise youre not required to have seat belts on,,,,   for sure the pilot forgot to switch the seat belt lights off

Answer 7

Cabin crew can always walk about the cabin with the sign on. However, if the sign is on pax should not be up. There is an obvious safety issue. On top of that though is when air traffic control or ramp control is trying to move the aircraft and the pilot has to tell them he can't b/c he has people up in the cabin. If the a/c is on the ground and the seat belt sign is on STAY SEATED! Otherwise you're not going anywhere until everyone is.