So, here I was, sitting in the plane that had left the jetway. The announcement comes on to turn off all electronic devices. Sitting across the aisle and just ahead of me, so I can see over his shoulder, is a guy (I’ll say, mid-20s) playing with some electronic game. He’s wearing his own earphones, connected (I presume) to his mp3 player; there’s a green light on his earphones, so they also should be turned off. He does nothing, makes no move to turn them off.
Etiquette question for debate: mind-your-own-business vs airline safety.
What do I do in such a situation? Do I assume that he didn’t hear the announcement because of the headphones and tap him on the shoulder to remind him (politely) to turn them off? Do I call the attendant? Do I just ignore it as “not my job”?
Interesting side-note: when we were coming in for landing, the guy was similar; he had his game and earphones on. The attendent coming by to do the seat check asked him to turn them off, and he did – after finishing his game. The attendants don’t come back to check if someone complied.
Aside: Cecil has addressed the reason for turning off electronic equipment: Why aren’t you supposed to use a radio receiver on an airliner? - The Straight Dope although that was some time ago, I’ve been trying to bug him to update. Still, it the attendants ask you to do something, you do it, you don’t argue.
PS - If the GD mods think this is more IMHO, OK to move. I sort of thought it was more debate-ish.
I’m entirely unconvinced by the notion that electronic devices used by passengers pose any risk at all to a plane during take-off or landing. There has never been any crash linked to such interference as far as I’m aware. If there was a legitimate, serious danger from this then:
a) There would already have been a crash. People do this thousands of times a day, millions of times a year.
b) They would be much more serious about preventing it.
There are some legitimate reasons to stop people from using these devices during take-off, such as reducing free-items that could cause injury if thrown around the cabin (but then they’d have to ban books too) and making people take out earphones so that they are aware of instructions from the crew. None of these reasons require the device to actually be off however.
On every flight I’ve taken, an airline employee of some sort walks the length of the plane shortly after that announcement checking that all passengers have complied. Anyone who has not, is politely told what they need to do to comply. This is what you saw. In my experience, everyone does what is suggested. If they won’t, I imagine the plane would return to the gate and the non-compliant passenger would be escorted off to meet with law enforcement.
As the situation is not life threatening, I don’t think you should do anything. Someone with authority will take care of it. You don’t have the authority to enforce the rules. Let someone who does handle this.
With the ever-increasing need for more electronic devices in our ears and eyes 24/7, I’m chiming in to ask Cecil for an update as well. I can’t imagine why either the airline electronics manufacturers or the portable electronics manufacturers haven’t developed technology to shield the plane’s systems from errant signals…if it’s really a problem.
So basically it’s pretty unlikely that a non-cellphone device is going to cause an measurable interference. A lot of the concern seems to come from incident reports by flight crews that have not been repeatable.
Personally I still think that non-phone use is fine, if it was a serious risk there would be more evidence. I can understand why they want to be cautious but frankly if the plane is going to crash because someone forgot to turn their iPod off then I’m just not going to fly.
I put my phone on “airplane mode” but I never really turn it off. It is in my shirt pocket and no one has ever asked me to turn it off after the announcement even though I have headphones on. I certainly would if asked but no one has ever said anything to me.
Maybe one, two or even ten devices left on are okay, but what if everyone on the plane each had two devices on, so a total of 200+ devices going? That may cause a measurable interference.
So don’t be a selfish twit and keep yours on just because everyone else has theirs turned off.
If I honestly believed that an MP3 player or PSP or whatever could crash an airplane, or even if 200 MP3 players or PSPs could crash an airplane, there is no way in hell I would fly in an airplane. I keep my own stuff turned off because it’s not something I want to annoy the attendants over but if I see somebody else using their iPod I’m going to ignore it.
I always comply when requested to turn it off, but I suspect that the “headphones out so you can hear instructions” reason is a lot more valid and reasonable than the “electronic interference” one.
Yes, but even so, for someone who’s actually flown once or twice before, the announcement gets to be as robotic and background-y as it must be for the FA’s themselves. Buckle up, seat back up, tray table stowed, shit off your lap and in the overheads or under the seat, put on your oxygen mask first and then your kids, look for the nearest emergency exit …
I don’t mean to disparage safety, of course, only dead horse abuse.
One or two times I’ve had my camera out during descent to take pictures. Of course, these days a camera is a “portable electronic device”, but I haven’t been asked to turn it off – nor do I believe that it emits enough radiation to interfere with the plane’s operation.
I used to never turn off my cell phone during flights, but started doing so when I realized I was draining the battery because the thing kept searching for towers.
To be honest, I never really understood the need to have your seat in the upright position when taking off/landing. What is the difference, really, between being at a 90-degree angle and being at an 85-degree angle?
It is so that if there were an incident, your seat would not impede the egress of the people sitting in the row behind you. There might not be much of a difference between 85 and 90, but then you would have someone arguing that there isn’t much difference between 80 and 85. Requiring the seats be all the way up allows for the largest safety margin and doesn’t require the flight attendant to break out a protractor to check for compliance.
Well, if the cockpit door was open and the pilot turned his head toward the passengers just as you took a picture with a really bright flash (thus emitting a momentary burst of electromagnetic radiation, i.e. “light”) he could be blinded and send the plane crashing into a fiery doom.
So be careful.
The chance of this happening are probably less than the pilot getting a speck of dust in his eye, becoming blinded and sending the plane crashing into the fiery doom.
I guess that we’ll all have to start stripping at the security checkpoint and putting on the microfiber dust free jumpsuit with no pockets before boarding the plane.
I fly myself almost everywhere I go. I’ve forgotten and left my cellphone on several times, and it occasionally causes a “buzz-buzz-buzz” in my headset. Mostly it’s just annoying, but it’s possible one could miss an important call from the controllers. (“Collision Alert, Piper 4-6-Romeo! Make an immediate 90 degree turn to the BUZZ!”)
Far-fetched, I suppose. And the cellphone in my pocket is much closer to the pilot than those of airline passengers. But still it seems wiser not to have 200+ devices broadcasting at once.