# Not allowed to take photos on an airplane?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-allowed-to-take-photos-on-an-airplane/658303
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [May 14, 2013, 9:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-allowed-to-take-photos-on-an-airplane/658303 "2013-05-14T09:49:18Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@bardos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bardos)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2013, 9:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-allowed-to-take-photos-on-an-airplane/658303/1 "2013-05-14T09:49:18Z")
WTF? This is really getting to be too much. Is this true?
---
### Author:  [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2013, 10:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-allowed-to-take-photos-on-an-airplane/658303/2 "2013-05-14T10:07:40Z")
> [@bardos](#):
>
> WTF? This is really getting to be too much. Is this true?
Context? As in, you told you this?
---
### Author:  [@MostlyClueless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MostlyClueless)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2013, 10:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-allowed-to-take-photos-on-an-airplane/658303/3 "2013-05-14T10:16:32Z")
A link to some sort of news story or whatever would be nice.
---
### Author:  [@bardos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bardos)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2013, 10:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-allowed-to-take-photos-on-an-airplane/658303/4 "2013-05-14T10:41:17Z")
> [@MostlyClueless](#):
>
> A link to some sort of news story or whatever would be nice.
A Spanish newspaper, but the video recorded in flight is in English
> **[Aterrizaje de emergencia porque una pasajera no deja de cantar a Whitney...](https://www.elmundo.es/america/2013/05/14/estados_unidos/1368521924.html)**
>
> Aterrizan porque no paraba de cantar a Whitney La chica fue detenida en Kansas City hasta que se calmó y el avión retomó su vuelo con una hora de retraso.
---
### Author:  [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2013, 10:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-allowed-to-take-photos-on-an-airplane/658303/5 "2013-05-14T10:48:55Z")
IANASpaniard, but by _my_ translation, it says you can’t take pictures of Whitney Houston on an airplane. Makes sense to me, have you seen Whit lately?
---
### Author:  [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2013, 10:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-allowed-to-take-photos-on-an-airplane/658303/6 "2013-05-14T10:51:11Z")
I just hear an unidentified woman saying this, without any explanation. Googling “FAA legal to take photos on airplane” didn’t turn up any hits.
WAG: Temporary order by the flight crew to allow easier removal of the crazy woman by the cops? They probably had half the passengers leaning into the aisle and over the seats trying to snap pics of the incident. You **are** required to comply with flight crew instructions in general.
---
### Author:  [@bardos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bardos)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2013, 11:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-allowed-to-take-photos-on-an-airplane/658303/7 "2013-05-14T11:06:29Z")
> [@Ferret\_Herder](#):
>
> I just hear an unidentified woman saying this, without any explanation. Googling “FAA legal to take photos on airplane” didn’t turn up any hits.
>
> WAG: Temporary order by the flight crew to allow easier removal of the crazy woman by the cops? They probably had half the passengers leaning into the aisle and over the seats trying to snap pics of the incident. You **are** required to comply with flight crew instructions in general.
It appears to come over the intercom, or whatever this is called, on the airplane. Sounds official to me.
Problem was a woman passenger who refused to stop singing Whitney Houston songs in a loud annoying voice during the flight
Plane had to touch down in KC to remove her.
---
### Author:  [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2013, 11:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-allowed-to-take-photos-on-an-airplane/658303/8 "2013-05-14T11:21:24Z")
> [@Ferret\_Herder](#):
>
> You **are** required to comply with flight crew instructions in general.
This. I’ve never heard a blanket order from anyone prohibiting photographs being taken by passengers during a flight, but if there is a specific instance of a flight crew member telling you not to take pics - for _any_ reason - you can get yourself in a lot of hot water if you choose to disobey.
---
### Author:  [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2013, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-allowed-to-take-photos-on-an-airplane/658303/9 "2013-05-14T11:42:06Z")
> [@bardos](#):
>
> It appears to come over the intercom, or whatever this is called, on the airplane. Sounds official to me.
At the start, it just sounds spoken, but nearer the end it sounds like the loudspeaker. My guess is that people weren’t listening and the attendant had to take to the loudspeaker to get the passengers to stop obstructing the aisle.
---
### Author:  [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2013, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-allowed-to-take-photos-on-an-airplane/658303/10 "2013-05-14T12:02:17Z")
Oh, a one-off “Sit down and stop taking pictures so we can control this situation” invocation of FAA rules is different than a general rule against photography.
---
### Author:  [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2013, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-allowed-to-take-photos-on-an-airplane/658303/11 "2013-05-14T12:53:16Z")
> [@bardos](#):
>
> Problem was a woman passenger who refused to stop singing Whitney Houston songs in a loud annoying voice during the flight.
Does TSA have a summary execution policy for situations like this? Seems like a good idea.
---
### Author:  [@bardos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bardos)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2013, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-allowed-to-take-photos-on-an-airplane/658303/12 "2013-05-14T12:54:41Z")
“All passengers, please take off your clothes.” If you do not obey, what is it a misdemeanor or a felony?
---
### Author:  [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2013, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-allowed-to-take-photos-on-an-airplane/658303/13 "2013-05-14T12:56:02Z")
> [@bardos](#):
>
> “All passengers, please take off your clothes.” If you do not obey, what is it a misdemeanor or a felony?
That is exactly why they don’t let \*you \*near the loudspeaker.
---
### Author:  [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2013, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-allowed-to-take-photos-on-an-airplane/658303/14 "2013-05-14T13:08:13Z")
> [@bardos](#):
>
> “All passengers, please take off your clothes.” If you do not obey, what is it a misdemeanor or a felony?
When a JetBlue pilot was ranting about terrorists and demanding that passengers pray, they [subdued him instead](http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/jetblue_captain_goes_berserk_on_A4AFpyyOXCuUvryqgykKwI). So unless you’re watching the right porn films, I don’t think you’ll see flight attendants making everyone strip just because Simon Says.
---
### Author:  [@Washoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Washoe)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2013, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-allowed-to-take-photos-on-an-airplane/658303/15 "2013-05-14T14:16:21Z")
> [@Ferret\_Herder](#):
>
> When a JetBlue pilot was ranting about terrorists and demanding that passengers pray, they [subdued him instead](http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/jetblue_captain_goes_berserk_on_A4AFpyyOXCuUvryqgykKwI).
Particularly telling quote from that article:
Grainy YouTube footage purportedly taken by one passenger aboard the flight after its landing showed a scrum at the front of the plane as an attendant reminded them to stay seated and scolded people for taking video, saying, “We don’t need pictures of this, please.”
Probable translation: “JetBlue attorneys would be extremely uncomfortable if video of this incident were made available to parties which they prefer would not see them. Rather than simply say this however, I’m going to couch it in a vague, evasive manner which implies that your actions are specious and unnecessary.” I highly suspect that the same dynamics were responsible for the actions of the flight attendants in the incident presented by the OP.
Had I been present at the JetBlue incident, my response would have been “I don’t know exactly who this hypothetical ‘we’ is, but I am fully capable of determining for myself what I do and do not ‘need’.”
---
### Author:  [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2013, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-allowed-to-take-photos-on-an-airplane/658303/16 "2013-05-14T14:21:29Z")
My assumptions also included “this person is having a mental breakdown and it’s kind of tacky to film someone who can’t help what they’re doing and put that up on YouTube forever” and “a Federal Air Marshal is involved and we don’t really want them being photographed because that may make him identifiable by people we don’t want picking out plainclothes marshals on planes.”
---
### Author:  [@Washoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Washoe)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2013, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-allowed-to-take-photos-on-an-airplane/658303/17 "2013-05-14T14:37:51Z")
I would tend to agree. Not identifying an Air Marshall is in my opinion the only reasonable justification for the flight attendants’ actions. However, we now live in a society in which it is essentially impossible to go anywhere in public without being photographed. It’s just something we have to accept, law enforcement officers and mentally unstable people included.
---
### Author:  [@moriah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moriah)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2013, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-allowed-to-take-photos-on-an-airplane/658303/18 "2013-05-14T16:32:18Z")
1. I’ve flown quite a bit. I read all the regs. Never did I see a prohibition against taking pictures.
2. All those photos of pretty clouds and other atmospheric events taken out of a plane.
---
### Author:  [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2013, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-allowed-to-take-photos-on-an-airplane/658303/19 "2013-05-14T21:54:48Z")
Does this include no video?
( **The Party**
Angry Director:\* I’ll see that you never make another movie in this town. DO you understand?!\*
Peter Sellers: _Does that include televison?_ )
I take pictures out the window on almost every overseas trip I’ve been on.
---
### Author:  [@Pai325](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pai325)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2013, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-allowed-to-take-photos-on-an-airplane/658303/20 "2013-05-14T22:51:15Z")
On my last flight, either we were told or I read it in the airline magazine, that you were allowed to take pictures of your traveling companions, but nothing else. I didn’t pay much attention other than rolling my eyes, and I can’t even remember the airline. I will try to remember a little more, but yes I had heard of that and when I saw the news story today and heard the loudspeaker announcement I thought, “Yeah, I remember hearing that last year.”
[Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-allowed-to-take-photos-on-an-airplane/658303.md?page=2)