I still cannot figure out in what world someone thinks that it is perfectly okay to disturb others on an airplane by failing to use headphones when watching a movie or listening to music on their phones. But two recent incidents on two airlines on two continents confirm that this remains a serious problem.
Always Unacceptable: Watching A Movie Without Headphones On A Commerical Airplane Flight
The first incident took place on my Vueling flight I reviewed earlier. A woman sitting across the aisle from me, one row forward decided she would pass time on the 2.5 hours flight by watching a movie on her mobile phone…without headphones. The volume was way up and the noise created quite a disturbance.
Despite passing by her several times, the crew never asked her to use headphones or turn the sound off.
My policy is generally not to approach people onboard a plane. I’ve written far too many stories about those with violent tempers and the last thing I need is to be the victim of the latest story.
If you want to call my approach passive-aggressive, so be it, but I did eventually ask a flight attendant if he could ask her to wear headphones and the crewmember did…but she never got them out. She just turned the sound down a couple of notches and kept right on watching. The crew never followed up with her.
I had noise-canceling headphones, but the way they cancel the ambient noise made the movie even louder, so I just drowned it out by listening to music (using headphones, of course).
I wasn’t necessarily going to write about this, but then it happened again yesterday. A kid was playing a game in the row behind me and rather than tell him to turn it off, his parents said, “Honey, would you mind turning down the sound a little bit?” The boy, about six, refused. They asked him again and he grumblingly turned down the sound, but you could still hear it.
Thankfully, after about 30 minutes he grew bored of his game and watched the seatback TV instead, which does not emit noise.
Folks, everyone has devices and everyone wants to pass time on airplanes. I get it. But so that we can also sit harmoniously together, can we please use headphones? It is never okay to play music out loud on a plane.
CONCLUSION
There are additional recent incidents I could describe as well…usually briefer than the two above. The mobile phone volume levels are the worst I’ve ever seen. Let’s hope this problem does not get even worse.
How do you deal with loud movies, games, or music on a mobile phone when you’re on an airplane?
Should have turned your music up and blared it for the movie lady to hear over her show, prove a point when she asks you to turn it down.
Join in instead. Start reacting to the movie: laugh, exclaim “oh, no!”, say “That’s so sad,” ask, “Wait, now who is that?”
Matt’s stance apparently is that he wants to avoid confrontation so he can get through all these thousands of trips in one piece. I understand his sentiments, but when so many people do this that NOBODY stands up for manners and common courtesy, it ultimately degenerates the experience and safety for everyone since the bullies just get emboldened.
That said, your “hacks” are similar to what I’ve done in the past. I had noisy neighbors so I’d try asking them nicely to turn it down (big mistake!) but I found hacks worked better. I’d call the cops on one of them JUST as the women were getting a bit tipsy and prone to… suggestion and just as the guy thought the party girls were warmed up, the cop shows up and does a major buzzkill. He totally lost it and screamed around the condo complex for an hour after that. Mission Accomplished. The other approach (for that neighbor) was I threw a mosquito bait trap under his patio. The first night it didn’t do much but he didn’t have late night parties after that.
So… how to deal with the movie watcher? Try to figure it out and… read spoilers. Make a conversation with your conspirator seat mate about all the things that will happen in the film, JUST BEFORE she gets to see them. Argue about the ending as to how surprised you were the butler DIDN’T do it. Heck, engage a seat mate near the offender and talk about the movie with THEM!
“Excuse me! I’m trying to watch a film!”
“We know, you’re not wearing a headset.”
Yea, If you are looking at someone else’s computer screen, they get very protective of it and try to hide it. That’s exactly what you want!
I once had a woman playing Candy Crush on her iPad with full volume. I didn’t even bother going to the FA. I just tapped her on the shoulder and told her that is not okay. She muted the sound after that. A few minutes later the FA came over and thanked me.
Not sure what is worse, this or a passenger on my intra Europe flight chatting with his friend that was sitting 2 rows in front of him. They were both Germans and by chatting I mean they were talking to each other 2 rows apart so you can imagine how loud they were. Add to that both had several beers during the flight so it was like having two drunk old guys screaming at each other and making stupid jokes for almost 3 hours.
Matthew and Ben??
Lollll
Ridiculous. As if Ben would drink beer instead if champagne on a plane.
I love people who FaceTime in a lounge on speakerphone as they wander around chatting and showing the person on the other end the lounge.
I had some jackoff do that in the LH lounge at FRA earlier this week, talking like some big shot. And when he finished one conversation, he called another person, seemingly going through his entire contact list. NOBODY is impressed by that. The only difference is you can get up an move. On a plane you’re pretty much screwed.
People are inconsiderate. Sometime last month wife & I we’re in a lounge on a long layover. The guy in the seat next to her was having a super long & loud phone conversation even though there was private phone rooms! She finally interrupted him & politely ask him to shut his pie hole 🙂 He then walked around the lounge aimlessly to finish his call.
To your opening statement I add:
And more so…no venue,no event,etc,is off limits to this type of individual (see “Billy Bob”)…and apples aren’t falling far from the trees either..
He should have joined in on the conversation. “I know a good sushi place if that’s what you’re looking for” “EXCUSE ME! I’m having a PRIVATE phone call!” “Oh, you should have taken it PRIVATE then!”
I suppose having to try to figure out how to outsmart a 4 year old is how I learned these tactics because rather than hurt my daughter’s feelings, I outsmarted her but this becomes increasingly difficult as she, well, gets smarter than me.
Part of this is the result of Apple and Samsung phasing out the headphone jack requiring the those with some amount of consideration to others or those seeking privacy to purchase often expensive bluetooth phones as well as the frequently cumbersome act of charging them. The solution for many is to not bother with any wireless headphone system and just have all audio come out of the speaker.
As headphone jacks continue to be phased out, this problem is only going to get worse and worse.
Ironically, the individuals with the bluetooth headsets are likely the same big blowhards walking around and talking loudly like they own the place
They also sell adapters which fit the USB-C or whatever hole. I use those and they are not expensive and work with any cheap wired earphones.
At least it wasn’t during a red eye.
I once did that, watch a movie without headphones. However, it was just because I didn’t plug it in all the way. The person next to me said they could hear the movie. They said it after about 15 seconds.
While you are at it. people need t take their backpacks off when boarding. If I get smacked in the face one more time by some inconsiderate bloke who smashes me in the face, there’s going to be a story on here and its not going to be pretty.
+1
As a dedicated aisle sitter, my sore head agrees.
If I know my middle seatmate, I can at least lean in. Otherwise, I generally give the offender’s bag a gentle, but forceful nudge if it’s coming within striking distance. They get the point.
Okay big boy.
I don’t use headphones. I read the subtitles. I save my hearing.
A-holes who have screwed up hearing, which is about every living idiot because everyone thinks they are invincible when they are young, should have to pay for their own hearing aids. Don’t make the rest of us pay for them.
These types are everywhere. Try to choose a place to live far from them, but when you travel, they can’t be avoided.
I did this once, for about 20 minutes. This was about 2 decades ago– I had just gotten my first laptop with a DVD player and Netflix was shipping out DVD discs to people’s homes. Well the new laptop arrived just in time for a business trip, and so did a new netflix dvd disc, so I figured I’d watch it on the plane.
In those days, no one was watching anything on a phone, heck half the people didn’t even have a cell phone. Most people didn’t have a device of any kind, so the etiquette wasn’t really established.
I started watching some lame Tom Cruise movie– sorry can’t be more specific– and I didn’t have headphones with me (I don’t think they had been invented yet). As soon as the sound came on, I felt a bit uncomfortable about it, and thought that maybe I was just being silly, but as time went on I thought it was just inconsiderate, so I turned it off.
Whuh, the main henchman in The Living Daylights had headphones. Sony Walkman, very 80s.
Most people doesn’t care if we hear what they’re doing, as long as that person can clearly hear it.
Happening more and more and is really aggravating. Just last week in BA F while waiting an hour delayed on the tarmac, the man next to me decided it was a good idea to have a conference call on the speaker for everyone to hear. Again, crew said nothing. I finally did. He whispered “a**hole” and went off speaker. Why would anyone assume that people around you are OK with that? It boggles the mind.
I’m glad you said something to the man. But was his comment nevertheless accurate?
The inconsiderate nature of the call on speaker… did he use the bathroom with the door open too? Would be on brand if he did.
What goes through my mind is what kind of job exists out there in the world that (1) pays enough to be in international F, and (2) has meetings that are important enough that you’ll do the meeting on the tarmac in a plane, and (3) yet at the same time are so meaningless that you can basically let the whole world listen in to the meeting?
My job meets criteria 1 & 2, but not 3. I generally don’t have time to attend meetings that would have only content that we’d like broadcast to the general public.
Thankfully (at least in the US) cell phone calls are banned during flights. Can you imaging how terrible travel would be if calls were permitted. Nowadays unfortunately too many people feel “entitled” to do just what they want to do irrespective of others, how sad. This week especially sad re the passing of the Queen and Roger Federer’s retirement, 2 citizens of the world with real class.
Unfortunately now airlines sell wifi and WiFi calling exists…not that big of a problem but that’s kinda why I hate any other type of transport.
Irrespective isn’t a word.
Never has been.
Irrespective is a word and has been for a long time. You are confusing it with “irregardless.”:
Whoopsie.
Correct!
Whenever I’m around someone doing the facetime no headphones performance, I just jump straight in the frame behind them and join in. Works every time. I just tell them I thought it was a group chat.
As a Deaf traveler, I’m paranoid about noise coming out of whatever device I’m using while in close capacity to others. If someone tapped me on the shoulder, I would gladly turn off the volume if it happened to be on. Clearly not everyone responds this way but… 1, don’t assume. 2, a little courtesy can go a long way.
I confess I did a trip in coach with my son to Asia and New Zealand recently.
On the AKL – IAH leg the man sitting behind be was banging away at the seat back screen playing some numbers whacka mole game….. tap tap tap tap tap tap TAP AAAARGH.
I got up and went for a walk and on the way back I saw what he was doing. So I knelt down beside him and said hey I know you don’t know this but they way you are banging the seat is really annoying – and I showed him how to do it softly with the pad of his fingers and all was good thereafter.
The other thing I’ve seen crews do really well is hand over a set of cheap wired headphones to people who aren’t using them.
Had a lady smashing her keyboard for two hours on a flight last week. Was bizarre lollll. Smash smash smash.
Spirit is a good airline if you want to hear an eclectic mix of music out loud from different passengers 🙂
I had a creepy experience on Icelandic from Reykjavik to London in June. Dude next to my daughter watched her whole film (princess bride) from the seat next to her. I kept prodding my daughter to turn her iPad away but she was oblivious. Said after the flight that she felt bad for him as he didn’t seem to have an iPad.
When passengers are abusing other passengers with egregious actions which Matthew has outlined, it’s the responsibility of the airline to ensure such activity and noise cease! Passengers should advise the cabin crew of annoying noise from personal devices from such entitled passengers. In turn, cabin crew must take action to terminate the disturbance. I pay for safety including peace and quiet while flying! The airline company and its staff should be held to this level of responsibility!
You have to say something to the clueless. You can be polite about it. You can educate this person as to plane-etiquette. You can do it with a smile.
But to stew and then write about it…nah. Say something.
(Usually younger) people feel they have the right to intrude in everyone’s audio space. I had to tell a guy at a table near me at a restaurant that “you seem like you are a nice guy,, but if you think the entire restaurant wants to hear your facetime call, I can assure you that you are misreading the room.”
People need to stand up to these people. They are like bullies… operating with little concern about those around them.
I’ve begun trying to embarrass the speakerphone callers. If they continue to have their conversations public, I will loudly interject something like, “Hey, did you just fart? I think you farted! That’s not cool, you shouldn’t be farting out here in front of everyone else!”. One lady turned pale white and ran as fast as she could out of the room. I hope it was excruciatingly embarrassing for her.
It truly is hard to believe that people are either so clueless or classless that they are not even paying attention to what they are doing or how annoying they are to other people , why can’t the person have used headphones ?
I carry an extra pair of cheap headphones that I can offer to such people.
People do the same thing when I am at Chemotherapy treatments. People there are pretty sick. Hooked up to I.V’s, like a flying metal tube, there is no escape. Many are try to nap. All points to a failure of common decency or respect in our society. Every man for himself.
The plus is if they are watching cartoons your Minnie me gets to be a kid and listen in! Maybe that will help with the resentment later in life!!!!
This honestly should be the job of the flight attendant. They are EVER so careful to ensure we are all SAFE by relentless reminding us to put our masks on. There is NO REASON why they cannot talk to someone listening to music or watching a movie without headphones.
Have you flown since May or what? No flight attendants have been relentlessly reminding people to put their masks on since then, in the US, anyway. And we had to do that because we could quite literally be terminated for not enforcing this rule. Your mask beliefs are not my concern, but my career definitely is. You’re DAMN right that I was relentlessly reminding you about the mask, because I refuse to risk my job because adults revert to toddlers when faced with simple rules.
Anyway, a flight attendant isn’t omnipotent. They can’t be everywhere at once in the cabin and hear every single thing. When I see somebody playing something aloud on their speaker, I have no problems reminding them of the policy that headsets must be worn. Next time, maybe take it up with the flight attendant if you feel like they aren’t aware?
On all flights to/from Spain, a mask mandate remains in effect.
Hence “in the US, anyway” — for what it’s worth, I’ve worked 3 madrid trips this month. We do not enforce the masks.
In such situations I have used multiple methods:
1) I carry packets of the freebie earbuds given out on flights. I just ask the person if they want them
2) I play a bit of older Chemical Brothers or Daft Punk and then comment to them “you see the chaos not respecting other passengers brings?”
3) Ask directly if they could have respect for the people around them and stop or mute their device
4) For phone calls (trains and busses, not planes) I will just join in on the conversation followed by a “on speakerphone in public. I thought you wanted people to participate since they all already have to listen to the whole conversation anyway”
I have a bag of the old in ear headphones airlines used to give away, or some still do, in my bag. I have given away quite a few to people. I was at the lounge in Delhi and gave a pair to a boy who played a very loud game without them. The people around him applauded and the mother looked a bit embarrassed.
All these types of issues get worse with each passing day. The behavior of some of these self entitled louts is disgusting. So many have no respect of others and their surroundings. It’s only going to get worse.
I’ve noticed a sudden fad for not wearing headphones for any reason in public. It’s balling, but this is getting a lot worse
Ahhh on the flight from Sweden I had a very elegant looking lady next to me sitting with her toddler. She really thought it is completely OK to give him a tablet with some game producing these squeeky annoying sounds every time he pressed it (and yeah, he was pressing it a lot). I just stare at her in disbelief and she realized and turned to volume down. It has been few years, but I am still processing how for gods sake she would think that nobody around her in full economy class would mind…
I usually fly once a year international flight and they always say put your phone away and make sure it’s in flight mode, does anybody ever do that anymore.
Weak as piss and gutless, wouldnt expect anything else from this ‘journalist’ pfft!
It’s the new smoking on airplanes. Completely obnoxious. And while it doesn’t’ have the health effects of secondhand smoke, it’s certainly one person’s pleasure annoying everyone around them.
The airlines should prohibit it.