On a flight last week from DC to Charlotte I was seated in the exit row aisle and the two passengers next to me, who hadn’t met before, started chatting. The woman in the middle seat was a loud and energetic talker.
I was trying to concentrate, and get some work done, but it was tough – even with earphones in. And I thought, ‘how is this different than people talking on the phone on a plane’ which everyone seems to hate so much?
Oh, this was worse – it wasn’t just one end of the conversation which you’d hear on a phone call, it was both ends of the conversation!
- Talking to another person is fine.
- But talking to another person through a device is… not fine?
I thought about this, coming across the story of an American Airlines passenger dictating a voice memo into their phone on a flight from New York LaGuardia to Miami.
- A flight attendant treated this as ‘talking on the phone’ and this not allowed. I don’t think that makes sense!
- But he kept going anyway, and they didn’t do anything about it.
This dude talked into a voice memo for the entire flight from LGA to MIA. The flight attendant told him to not talk on the phone and he argued saying it wasn’t a phone and kept talking. Is there a rule against this?
by
u/bsmith2123 in
americanairlines
People seem to think that talking into a voice memo for an entire flight is antisocial, especially after a flight attendant said to stop. But also that if it was no louder than two passengers talking to each other, then it is hard to distinguish from ordinary conversation which is okay. But then why do you also think that talking into a phone (which is just half as much talking as a two-person conversation) is somehow not okay?
Some call for the quiet cabin rule to be applied across the board. It’s like listening to music without headphones and that’s not okay. Under that standard, I’d be ok with either a ban on all talking or a ban on all loud sound (but all sound below that threshold, even if made into a phone’s microphone) becomes permitted.
An important businessman like yourself , working on critically important projects for the nation, really needs to start flying private so you are not distracted. The country depends on you working for every waking moment. Start a go fund me perhaps.
You want to know what’s antisocial? I am literally sitting at the airport right now, and the guy who was sitting 4 seats away from me was unkempt, filthy, and stank so bad his presence is still felt 5 minutes after he left.
“But then why do you also think that talking into a phone (which is just half as much talking as a two-person conversation) is somehow not okay?”
Because, Gary, it’s 1) only half the conversation, which means it doesn’t even make sense and is thus like a person babbling nonsensically to themselves, and 2) people are usually worse at keeping their voices down on the phone then they are when having a conversation, and 3) it’s not one phone conversation that’s going to be the problem, it’s 20 going on at the same time and trying to shout over each other.
Why do you want to make flying even worse than it already is?
Planes are loud and if your voice can easily be overheard over the engines that’s a problem.
@thing1 did you happen to run into the overweight Gerard Leffert?
If I recall correctly, Gary advocated the use of cellphones in an article a couple of months ago. NOW you know WHY the answer should be, not “NO!” but “HELL NO!”
@George Romey: I think that depends on the quality of your directional pickup and/or mic position.
That being said, I’ve sat next to Congresscritters dictating voice memos to staff.
I’m not sure there’s anything the airline really /can/ do here absent a rule change, and given how tenuous the phone rule seems to be on “safety” grounds anymore (passenger comfort, I get) I think the better move would be for airlines to start selling noise-cancelling headphones onboard.
@Gary Leff, @Thing 1 — Just so you know, the ‘1990’ at May 4, 2026 at 1:17 pm is an impersonator. I would never insult our dear thot leader.
On-topic, wasn’t there just an incident on a Delta flight in MIA, where someone was on a cell phone, and they had to deplane everyone? So, is it merely using cellular services that’s the issue?