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Flight Attendants Union Challenges FAA Decision Allowing Passengers to Use Electronics in All Phases of Flight
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Does USA Today only write stories about the U.S.?
Is the Wall Street Journal only reporting on stocks?
...
Yeah, it really feels like a waste when I'm told to pay attention to the breifing, and the breifing basically says "Look around and find the exit". Well, what the flip WOULD I be doing?
Anything can be a projectile, including a turned-off phone, a drink, or your glasses.
Talking should be banned (if not by law then by airline policy) but stop panicking about the rest!
For one thing, playing a game or other distraction could be great to mitigate fear of flying for many people.
(I can sea a reason to ban them during the safety announcements--I don't care either way about that. They ARE a first for some people, and they can be important, and repetition of them aids memory anyway. They could also be better than they are of course--separate topic.)
Talking should be banned (if not by law then by airline policy) but stop panicking about the rest!
For one thing, playing a game or other distraction could be great to mitigate fear of flying for many people.
(I can sea a reason to ban them during the safety announcements--I don't care either way about that. They ARE a first for some people, and they can be important, and repetition of them aids memory anyway. They could also be better than they are of course--separate topic.)
I just looked on the App Store. Apparently they needn't worry as there's already a SkyMall app available.
I highly doubt that. I'm sure they would much rather just let people do what they want and not deal with jackasses like you who just assume they're on some power trip.
I think this has nothing to do with the suit they actually filed. I think they're worried about some future contract negotiations with an airline or two, and they're hoping this will progress far enough that they can use it as leverage in the future. The conversation would go something like "Increase our benefits in some way and we'll drop this suit."
Because it was never JUST 10-15 minutes. It was as soon as the doors closed until the plane reached 10,000 feet. Except then your plane waits to push back from the gate for god-knows-why, or needs to get de-iced, or gets stuck in a big line to take off, etc. Most flights I took it was usually around 60-90 minutes before we could finally use our devices. By then I've gone through Sky Mall front-to-back twice, read the entire airline magazine, and twiddled my thumbs for who knows how long.
The graphic is patently false. I've yet to see a happy, well dressed, and slim passenger on board!
I'm not flying frequently for work now, but when I did I made a point to pay attention to the safety brief as often as possible (I didn't always). I was often seated up front (right in front of the flight attendants) and it felt rude to not pay attention being so close. On a couple of occasions, I noticed that literally no one else was watching the brief, and then I paid attention partly because I felt sorry for the attendants.
For frequent flyers (as some here obviously are), the safety brief is clearly old hat. There are still a lot of first-time flyers, believe it or not, and the safety brief serves a purpose. One of the more entertaining flight attendants (too few of those) on one of my propeller "puddle hopper" flights explained that one of the reasons they still perform the brief, particularly the seatbelt buckle demonstration, is because the airlines have seen that in crisis situations when people panic, they start pushing on the buckle (like the seat belts in your car) rather than pulling up on the buckle to release it.
I agree with your rudeness point.
However, 90% of the time during taxi the FAs are either chatting about random things (usually complaining about their schedule, how they can't get someone to switch schedules) with their colleagues and/or reading a thick book they bought at Hudson News or People Magazine.
Back to rudeness: I've got 2m miles worth of stories about FAs behavior on the ground, taxi, take-off, during the flight and landing. Most FAs are good, but playing the rudeness card can be addressed to both pax and crew.
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Including the books, magazines, e-readers, tablets and iPhones some FAs use?
Ok reasonable and but then the solution is to tell ALL passengers to pay attention. AKA you are not allowed to sleep, or read a book etc. while that safety announcement is going on.
But at least for me the old rules restricted use of electronics for a FAR longer duration. From the moment the airplane door closed until the plane reached cruising altitude. This includes the very long time that an airplane can be waiting in line on the runway for take off. There is no reason during that WHOLE time a person with an iPad or iPhone has to sit bored (or anxious if you have a fear of flying like me) while someone else can read a book.
I love my tech. If Apple based their battery statistics on my usage, they would look horrible just because I love to use it constantly. But is 10-20 minutes really that necessary to consumers? If anything, a lot of people, including me, need those 10-20 minutes off of their phone anyways
Whenever you see this crap about "safety" always look to see who is loosing money from a change in business operations. Any guesses here?
They collect cups and cans prior to takeoff, during final seatbelt check (it's also the reason why pre-departure beverages in F are served in plastic cups).
Wrappers? I guess one could slip evacuating the plane, but then we should all have our shoes ON until we're wheels-up (like I do).
Luggage and everything else are stowed under the seat or in overhead bin.
Where are you going with this?
Wrong. If it's an issue of public safety on a vehicle engaged in interstate travel then yet, it most definitely is something the FAA should be involved in. They take pretty conservative approaches to this stuff because the stakes are very, very high. It's been established that consumer devices are not, in fact, hazardous to navigation systems, so they've been allowed—as they should. But it was the FAA's call to make.
Your basic premise that this should not have been subject to FAA regulation in the first place is dead wrong. By your logic, should we leave it to individual airlines to devise their own safety standards across the board? Maybe one of them could market themselves as "the safest" and have most thorough aircraft maintenance standards. And then the cheaper ones could skip all that stuff and let the market sort it all out.
They should make it interesting, change it up, maybe put jokes in, make it a show, dancing girls and all that jaz. Then people will watch and listen.
Southwest airlines literally had a "song and dance" ready for the flight safety briefing including a stage with a band to play in flight. The FAA killed it over "safety" concerns.
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Quite possible. I'd love to see the safety briefing play on my iPhone or iPad instead of watching the attendants in the aisles.
How about an iBeacon app showing a recommended exit route based on your real-time seat location?
No, we do not *all* know all of that.
For one, it is a terrible example to set for children, most of whom have probably never been on a plane before.
And there are others who have never flown or fly infrequently. They should be made to feel the instructions are important, and should not feel intimidated for actually paying attention. (And it is easy for groupthink to make people feel fools for doing what is prudent, when others are not...)
Again, it's as much courtesy as anything else. Maybe you don't take takeoffs/landings seriously, assume nothing will go wrong, and don't want to think about it in case it does. And, it's true - statistically, you are a lot safer than in a car.
Have some respect, though, for those who are less experienced flyers. At least try not to make a show of ignoring the announcements and rules. (Which I have seen happen plenty of times...)