The Emergency Exit

I was waiting for my check in on the flight out of Bangalore. I couldn’t help but notice the middle aged lady checking in at the next counter. (She will probably thrash me for thinking about her as ‘middle aged’.) Well who wouldn’t notice a well dressed, well made-up lady? Then suddenly I heard her requesting the man at the counter, “Emergency exit please”. I got confused, ‘does she want an exit out of the airport pronto’?  Quickly I corrected myself, ‘ she might be requesting a seat near the emergency exit’. As much as I tried hard, I could not fathom what could be the motive behind this strange request. People request window seats, aisle seats, seats closer to the loo, the door etc etc, but an emergency exit? In what kind of an emergency could it possibly give you a head start ? Yeah, the plane is taxiing on the runway at the lowest speed possible and the tail catches fire. Or the plane has come to a standstill but the regular door fails to open?

 I am not sure how much help it will be in other major accidents like a mid-air crash or such needless-to mention tragedies. But then people are given in to their quirks, she might have had some kind of a situation in her mind where it helps to be near the emergency exit, or probably it just makes her feel secure. After all, security or the lack of it has nothing to do with the actual ground situation; it is all up there in your head.