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How many times do we have to listen to the safety brief? do they think we are stupid and didn't listen the first few times we flew?

I'll admit I don't pay close attention either, but you would be surprised how many people have never flown before so the safety brief is still important.
 
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.

Yes and no. The rules restricting personal electronic devices actually go all the way back to the first generation of transistor radios from Regency, Westinghouse and others before the Japanese consumer electronics invasion of the late 1950's. Many of these devices were built so cheaply, they gave off sideband interference into aviation bands the pilots were using with the tower and in flight. Hence the ban.

Now fast forward sixty years and you have "electronic devices" with a much better build quality, very little if any sideband interference but the same rules are still in effect.
 
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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...)

You hit it right on the head. My sister worked airline flights and one of her rules was "Assume every customer is flying for the first time."

Typically one screaming kid can make the flight hell for everyone else. This is why you see so many attendants put a lot of attention on children in flight.
 
Can't people go a few minutes without being on their phones? Remember the good old days (7 years ago) when people actually talked to the people next to them. vs Mind your business and let me do as I please. I have as much of a right to be on this plane as you and last I checked looking at my emails wasn't considered obnoxious
 
See, this is the kind of thing that never should have been a federal regulation in the first place.

If an airline wants to ban its passengers from using electronics, it can do so already. Just put language in the ticket agreement to the effect that you can’t use devices at certain times—or even at all—during their flights, with additional fees for breaking the terms of the contract.

Heck, an airline could even advertise its flights as “distraction free” and charge extra money to people who want to ride on a plane without cellphones (or pocket knives or bottles of water or containers of shampoo over 3 fluid ounces or whatever). There is no reason for the government to get involved in any of that.

Except for the fact that we, the people, own the airspace, from SFC-FL600.

Furthermore, from the US Constitution, Article I, Section 8, Clause 3:

The Congress shall have Power...

To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes;

Air travel is interstate commerce, which falls under the jurisdiction of the government. Airlines aren't free to do whatever they want; they have to abide by regulations set forth by the government, and the FAA is part of that.

The Deltas briefing this year have been mildly entertaining.

You should see Air New Zealand. They do theirs naked.

BL.
 
You're complementary beverage is "a dangerous projectile"

I keep on thinking if that "perfect storm" of a liability lawsuit with an hot cup of coffee from an airport McDonald's, boarding a plane, take off turbulence and someone scolded will come about.
 
Its rather ammusing how flippent everyone here is with flight safety. I mean considering their have been enough aircraft crashes for a documentary series to be made about them plus a spin off documentary series both with seemingly endless new material.

Then again if your plane crashes you'll most likely die anyway so I guess their really is no harm in ignoring the safety breifings, of course if you were in the military and ignored safety breifings then you wouldn't be in the military for very long, and they get shot at.

Just my opinion, but it is still a fact the most dangerous parts of a flight are the take off and landings. And I would also argue a thin device made of metal and glass is a more dangerous projectile then a thick paperback book.
 
Can't people go a few minutes without being on their phones? Remember the good old days (7 years ago) when people actually talked to the people next to them. vs Mind your business and let me do as I please. I have as much of a right to be on this plane as you and last I checked looking at my emails wasn't considered obnoxious

I still talk to people next to me on flights and made some very good friends due to it. One lead to a wonderful weekend at a private ranch in the middle of rural west Texas.
 
What did we do before smart phone's were common? Play games and read on our RAZR flip-phones? Oh, we just sat back, relaxed, read a magazine, and, what was that thing we used to do? Oh yeah, talk with the people around us.

Not stating anything other than we need to unplug once in a while. If we're that edgy that 5, 10, 15, 20 minutes away from our mobile devices is enough to warrant this behavior, then we need to rethink our lives.
 
Now fast forward sixty years and you have "electronic devices" with a much better build quality, very little if any sideband interference but the same rules are still in effect.

But not for long, apparently.

And like I said, maybe they took a very conservative approach, but the world didn't exactly grind to a halt.
 
FAA can make up anything it wants to...

The airlines is responsible for saying "yes" or "no" the last leg.

FAA can't exactly make all airlines say "They must allow this...."



BTW: These MR users are the same people that can't be anywhere without a technology :) Remember that....

The idea of a flight is to take a break, and get away from all that..

Users can't even stay 2 seconds away from Facebook, so there is your answer..
 
When you see the same idiots on flights again and again, stupid comes to mind.

How many times do we have to listen to the safety brief? do they think we are stupid and didn't listen the first few times we flew?

I don't fly a lot, it has reverted to mostly personal flights, but each and every time onedoes fly you see people blissfully ignoring all reasonable requests. Sometimes that is due to them being drunk but most of the time simple stupidity comes to mind. It is especially worrisome when the stupid are obviously sober.

The problem here is that if a plane does crash these idiots become an extreme danger to the rest of the passenger base. It is pretty disgusting that these self absorbed people can't give up a few minutes of their trips for the good of everyone on the flight.
 
Here's my $0.02:

1)I honestly believe the only reason the airlines/attendants want to ban electronic items is so they can feel empowered and police us into listening to them. I'm very serious about this. I've seen their attitudes time and time again on numerous airlines for the past 20+ years.

2)As many have mentioned, anything can become a projectile...powered on or off...books, babies, can of soda, etc.

3)If they are honestly concerned about people paying attention to the safety announcement, well a)they only announce that during takeoff so why is landing such as hassle for them? and b)the easier solution (get ready)...is to simply do the safety announcements BEFORE takeoff. Meaning, push away from the gate, do the 5 minute speel while taxi'ing to the runway, then tell everyone to enjoy their flight and the attendants just shut the bleep up.

I've been flying a lot since 1998 for business and pleasure...about 2 times a month. Numerous times I was told to turn off my Bose headphones (and I asked if they were going to force me to listen to their announcement)...so I powered it off and sometimes they attempted to force me to remove the headphones (so you gonna make me take off my hat too? what about people with those neck pillows)? I'm not looking to be a jerk but give me a break.

The attendants need to stop looking for a cop complex and actually, well, be EMPLOYEES that are getting to me to my destination (like trains, boats, buses, etc.) It's very inconsistent as far as the airlines enforcing the rules.
 
I still talk to people next to me on flights and made some very good friends due to it. One lead to a wonderful weekend at a private ranch in the middle of rural west Texas.

Awesome! I've never been that fortunate, but I have definitely had nice conversation with people while flying. In fact, my portable electronic device is a backup so that I have something to read/watch/listen to if there's no one to chat with.
 
I think they are just frustrated because now so many people don't pay attention to the safety briefing before each flight. They feel disrespected. And I'm not surprised, because last time I was on a flight 80% of the people were distracted while the flight attendants were talking, and they seemed a little ticked off by it
 
Yeah, I don't get it either. A projectile is a projectile, electronic or not. That argument makes no sense. I kind-of-sort-of accepted the 'it might interfere with the navigation equipment' argument... but that was shot to hell when airlines started offering paid WiFi. Um, no, sorry, why is WiFi suddenly SAFE just because I'm paying you for it?

I really think this is one of those rules that's been around so long, no one wants to admit it was stupid in the first place, so no one wants to be the one to admit it needs changing.

It wasn't "stupid in the first place." But it has been deemed irrelevant now. I think the FA union just needs to move along, and leave this alone.

Who knows. This might just be a power play by the union heads.
 
Is this really such an issue for passengers? Can folk not manage without their precious devices for 10 mins or so at the beginning and end of a flight. All these complainers sound like spoilt children who have had their favourite toy taken away, a bit pathetic really.
This. I'd say they should ban those gadgets completely, so that people have a few hours alone with themselves to think about their lives for once. But then again I suspect that would be a much greater safety danger than those gadgets were in the first place.
 
What did we do before smart phone's were common? Play games and read on our RAZR flip-phones? Oh, we just sat back, relaxed, read a magazine, and, what was that thing we used to do? Oh yeah, talk with the people around us.
Admittedly I'd rather read or play with some electronic device instead of talking to somebody next to me on a flight. Of course there are exceptions to every rule, I once got set next to this gal from California that was most interesting when it comes to conversation - beautiful too.
Not stating anything other than we need to unplug once in a while. If we're that edgy that 5, 10, 15, 20 minutes away from our mobile devices is enough to warrant this behavior, then we need to rethink our lives.

This is the problem. It isn't too much to ask passengers to make the plane safe for the rest of the passengers during landing or take offs. If people are too put out by such requests maybe they need to find another way to travel.
 
I think they are just frustrated because now so many people don't pay attention to the safety briefing before each flight. They feel disrespected. And I'm not surprised, because last time I was on a flight 80% of the people were distracted while the flight attendants were talking, and they seemed a little ticked off by it

Then we're even, because when I fly certain airlines I feel like 80% of the flight attendants are distracted, hanging out in the galleys bitching about their retirement, or doing a crossword puzzle in the jump seat.
 
Go ahead, you go on your next commercial flight without flight attendants. We'll see how safe you feel.

Guys, I think we found the flight attendant on the board.

If my next flight didn't have flight attendants, I would feel exactly as a safe as I do on any other flight. I would just be a little upset when my designated flight waitress didn't bring my soda around.
 
Awesome! I've never been that fortunate, but I have definitely had nice conversation with people while flying. In fact, my portable electronic device is a backup so that I have something to read/watch/listen to if there's no one to chat with.

I have a nice list of connections made by flights. One turned into a girlfriend for a few months.
 
It wasn't "stupid in the first place." But it has been deemed irrelevant now. I think the FA union just needs to move along, and leave this alone.
Think about this a bit, where do many flight attendants sit? Often at the front of the plane facing the passengers. In a crash they are on the receiving end of everything that becomes airborne. It is the same rational for making sure everybody has their seat belts on, imagine a 200 pound man flying through the air and getting plastered across the face of a flight attendant. An iPad would be just as harmful.
Who knows. This might just be a power play by the union heads.

Really are you that out of touch with reality here.
 
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