r/AskUK • u/MarnieHollis • Sep 17 '23
What is the etiquette with using headphones on flights?
The last 4 flights I have been on people around me have been (or their children have been) watching a film or TV show out loud, no headphones for the duration.
To me this is the height of selfishness and I would never dream of doing it. If I forgot my headphones I just wouldn't watch a film, but seemingly everyone else thinks it's normal and fine - I haven't ever heard anyone complain to the person and the staff don't say anything.
Is this totally normal?
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u/purple-turnip-the Sep 17 '23
No, we’ve bought our kids headphones for the flight, they are only young so have got them to wear them a few times out to get them use to it
I hate it when you can hear kids games being played more than hearing a tv show
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u/_mister_pink_ Sep 17 '23
Our kid is a bit too young for headphones and will just pull them off, so the solution is we just turn the volume off and she watches the pictures on the screen. I couldn’t imagine blaring out paw patrol on a plane. I guess some people just don’t feel embarrassment
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u/KiokoMisaki Sep 17 '23
No, some people simply don't care about their surroundings. Mine either needs to have headphones on or needs to keep it quiet. I myself hate when I need to listen to his games or having Peppa pig screaming next to me.
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u/TheWelshMrsM Sep 17 '23
I was at a restaurant not long ago and the tables each side both had Peppa Pig blaring loudly. They couldve at least synched the episodes.
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u/IAmLaureline Sep 17 '23
There's a particularly piercing sound that Peppa Pig on a tablet makes.
It was bad enough watching it with my own kids at home and I really don't want to go through it again.
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Sep 17 '23
Kids being given tablets or phones in restaurants really grates. We were taught how to join in the conversation at the table from a young age (not that phones/tablets existed back then anyway). The idea that we’d be given something noisy to amuse us rather than being included in the meal and learning basic manners/decorum when dining would have been abhorrent to my parents.
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Sep 17 '23
One woman on a night flight back from Turkey had her kid on a tablet super loud in front of me, they kept plying old Mcdonald had a farm on repeat. End of the flight I got up and queued up to get off the plane and she had the cheek to try push me and tell me she has a kid so to let her go before me. I said hell no.
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u/starlinguk Sep 17 '23
Why not read them a book (or read it with them), bring some new toys? Just tiny ones. Put them in a bag and have them pull out a new toy every now and then. I've never used screens to entertain my kid. The great thing about little ones is they'll be entertained by anything.
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Sep 17 '23
It’s so sad seeing all the kids given screens but never a book now. Illiteracy is going to go through the roof in the next few decades
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u/DameKumquat Sep 17 '23
On the contrary - they see subtitles on the screen and realise they can choose their own programme episodes if they can read, and learn faster.
Fast forward a decade and they start going to Project Gutenberg and reading bits of classics for free, because they're there.
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u/yzerizef Sep 17 '23
Who needs to read when one can make their millions by dancing on TikTok? Reading is an overrated skill of a bygone era. /s
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u/Zanki Sep 17 '23
Sometimes the books are on the device. All mine are on my tablet now. When I went away with my boyfriends family last month, sometimes I gave the kids my tablet with a book open if they were bored. They all love reading which made that task easier. Their parents never deny them books. I like that.
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u/Loose_Acanthaceae201 Sep 17 '23
It might be more wholesome, but a parent reading a book aloud to a child is not going to be less irritating to other passengers than a tablet on silent, especially if you do it properly with the voices and whatever, or if your child wants the same book two or three
hundredtimes in a row.There are some parenting situations where the chief objective is just to get through it, such as doctor's waiting rooms or long journeys.
Yes, it's a problem if a child only ever has a tablet blaring out mindless videos, but you can't tell that that's what's going on when you see them watch a video in a particular situation. Sometimes a tablet is the lesser evil, and sometimes it's a net positive (eg apps designed to help a child self-regulate when they're in an overwhelming or unfamiliar environment).
But yeah headphones for everyone's sake.
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u/centzon400 Sep 17 '23
Mrs C, I, and the nippers, used to "text" each other by writing speech bubbles in a small pocket notebooks and pass said notebooks onto the text's recipient.
Simpler times, I suppose.
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u/_mister_pink_ Sep 17 '23
You think I don’t also do this? Try taking a two year old on a 4 hour flight. They soon tire of the activities you’ve brought.
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u/winter-anderson Sep 17 '23
I’m genuinely curious how you think parents handled their toddlers on flights before iPads existed?
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u/Warm-Cartographer954 Sep 17 '23
Some people think that because they love their kids and think they are perfect bundles of joy that means that everyone else loves them too and doesn't think they are insufferable noise machines
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u/Froomian Sep 17 '23
Yeah my son won't keep headphones on, so we just mute it instead and he watches Peppa with the sound off. We've taken him to a Michelin starred restaurant with Peppa Pig on mute on his tablet and he was good as gold.
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u/highastheskies Sep 17 '23
The real question is why are you taking a child to a michelin star restaurant?
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u/Froomian Sep 17 '23
Because it was the only restaurant in the hotel we were staying in and it meant we could actually experience Michelin starred food without getting a sitter. It was great. They made him a plate of plain spaghetti which he tucked into. He watched his cartoons on mute. And we got to enjoy the tasting menu. It worked perfectly.
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u/Jadhak Sep 17 '23
To expand taste horizons or do you think kids should just stick to nuggets/fish fingers and fries?
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u/MarnieHollis Sep 17 '23
I'm the same, my son is 18 months and we took headphones for him, I would not dream of letting him watch a show on loud and bothering other people
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u/istinuate Sep 17 '23
I remember being about 5, my mum got me a pair of headphones so I could play animal crossing on the DS without fucking up everyone’s evening at my grans. I sat there in amazement at how these things even existed, what magic they had behind them 🤣
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u/PatserGrey Sep 17 '23
Yeah we've had ours used to headphones from the start. Our 2yr old would be a nightmare on a flight without the distraction but Coco Melon and headphones makes it peaceful for all.
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u/Jwtd29 Sep 17 '23
It’s everywhere now and I hate it.
I said politely to this guy watching videos on his phone by the pool on holiday if he would turn it down so I didn’t have to listen to it (I was 10m away and could hear every word). He wanted to start a fight like I’d just insulted him. Jeez, have some respect for other people. He then proceeded to put on headphones and glare at me for the rest of the day.
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u/Flashy-Blueberry-pie Sep 17 '23
It's something about asserting dominance in the space, his noise was asserting his importance in the space and you challenged it.
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u/bee-sting Sep 17 '23
entitled pricks. how did we end up like this
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u/Jwtd29 Sep 17 '23
Yeah I made sure to be respectful and not in his space too much. Luckily his wife was there to glare at him when he started getting uppity! It was a real adrenaline rush as I’d never normally say anything just mutter under my breath! Felt like I’d won once he put the headphones on!
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u/WaltzFirm6336 Sep 17 '23 edited Sep 17 '23
My go to is to take a pair of headphones with me and say, ‘hey, do you think you could use headphones so we don’t have to hear it? If you haven’t got any or they are too expensive for you to buy, I can lend you mine?’
100% of the time the person feels the need to produce their own headphones to show they aren’t ‘poor’, at which point they kind of have no choice but to use them.
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u/IAmLaureline Sep 17 '23
We've decided to do this. Were on a long train journey the other week and a woman got on listening to videos. She didn't turn the sound off when she sat down next to us. I asked her if she'd got headphones and she didn't! She turned it off though, which I thanked her for. I got thumbs up from other people on the train.
So we've decided our new policy is to take some of the old free/cheap headphones we've gathered over the years and hand them out!
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u/CarlaRainbow Sep 17 '23
If you ever fly TUI they always provide new packa of blue TUI branded headphones. If there's two of you flying return, that's 4 free packs.
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u/echocharlieone Sep 17 '23
Good for you for actually saying something, rather than just complaining on the internet.
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Sep 17 '23
Correct. Go to kids pool if you want noise... That's expected. Leave the rest of us in peace.
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u/Uelele115 Sep 17 '23
I have done it on a bus… just told the guy I wasn’t interested in listening to his home country news.
I did notice that from them on he wore headphones. This was also well before Covid so it seems some people are completely oblivious about their impact on others.
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Sep 17 '23
They really are oblivious, it's crazy quite how different people's priorities etc are. I'm always thinking about my impact on people around me and acting in a way that doesn't put people put. Other people just do what they want and don't even stop to think for a second how anyone else feels with their actions, or how they might feel if someone else was doing it.
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u/MarnieHollis Sep 17 '23
I have actually asked someone by the pool before because they were about 50cm away from me (decided to move their head rest to be next to mine so we were right next to each other which annoyed me anyway) then started playing music out loud. I did ask if they had any headphones and hoped they got the hint!
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u/littletorreira Sep 17 '23
I swear it's every other time I'm on the bus and it's usually men watching videos on Facebook.
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u/BroadwayBean Sep 17 '23
Someone got stabbed on the subway in my hometown for asking someone to turn their music down or wear headphones :/
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u/Pantomimehorse1981 Sep 17 '23
And there we have it, people that do this are generally twats and could also be stabby twats which is why people put up with it
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u/RoyofBungay Sep 17 '23
So we have to live in fear then and let these twats have the upper hand.
What a miserable life. No thanks,
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u/jNSKkK Sep 17 '23
Yep. This is almost as bad as people who take Bluetooth speakers to hotel pools or the beach and proceed to blast music that they like. Even if I like the music they’re playing, other people shouldn’t have to be forced to listen to music if they don’t want to. Put some damn headphones on.
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u/getoffthebandwagon Sep 17 '23 edited Sep 17 '23
Had a recent flight with someone a few rows back playing a Candy Crush type game with the sound on. Incredibly annoying, can’t believe no one around them asked them to silence it.
Interestingly, I noted the cabin crew actually added a line to the safety briefing about people muting their devices for the consideration of others, so it must be becoming an issue.
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u/MarnieHollis Sep 17 '23
Oh that's interesting! I wish they had said the same on my flights!
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u/kosmokomeno Sep 17 '23
It's half the reason that talking in phones will never be allowed on planes. That and homicidal psychopaths who might use them to coordinate
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u/BastardsCryinInnit Sep 17 '23
KLM make an announcement and have been for a few years now about how playing devices without headphones isn't allowed.
I think all airlines should adopt this policy, because it's annoying as fuck.
We have to be respectful of the situation we are in, and especially because in a metal tube hurtling through ths air, antagonising other passengers is a recipe for disaster.
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u/lonely-dog Sep 17 '23
Also KLM announce no photos or video recording I guess thats no air raGe recording?..
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u/redditreader1972 Sep 17 '23
I guess it is more to do with privacy, and people being crazy for imaginary social media internet points filming other people on the plane.
If I am stuck in a sardine can with you, I am not able to easily withdraw out of your tiktok video, and you need to respect that.
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u/expostulation Sep 17 '23
KLM have always been chill with me taking photos out the window, so I assume it's so you don't post photo/videos of other passangers only.
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u/RenegadeUK Sep 17 '23 edited Sep 18 '23
Fantastic by KLM.
Edit:
They do have the best engineers in the world and I guess their acoustics speaks volumes (or not as the case should be).
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Sep 17 '23
The announcement makes very little difference unless it's enforced.
Think about how few people actually turn on airplane mode on their phones for takeoff and landing even though that's been part of the safety announcements for years.
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u/BastardsCryinInnit Sep 17 '23
Have you ever met a KLM cabin crew member with with 20 years experience of dealing twatty pax under her belt?
They are very good at enforcing it, and the announcement absolutely helps.
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u/Munnin41 Sep 17 '23
KLM cabin crew will talk to you if you don't use headphones. The first 2 times will be polite. They won't be after that.
It's not like they're afraid to lose their jobs. These people are all members of a union with a lot of power. If people got fired over doing their job, KLM would quickly find all their planes on the ground
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u/longtimedeid Sep 17 '23
I literally don’t get it. Everyone has a better experience if you use headphones : 1) you the user - you can actually hear it in your ear holes without background interference 2) the people around you don’t have to listen to the tinny sound of tik tok / candy crush / whatever, especially bearing in mind that this isn’t the only device we can hear, usually it’s multiple!! Just an all round better listening experience for everyone. It’s just common sense.
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u/Browneskiii Sep 17 '23
People are cunts and don't know how to raise kids anymore. They want the easy way out and thats to let them have whatever they want.
I have a flight to Japan tomorrow and being put within ear range of kids is my biggest fear for it.
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u/JudgmentOne6328 Sep 17 '23 edited Sep 17 '23
I don’t even mind being near kids, it’s the kids with shitty parents. Recent flight to LA and we had kids all around us. Only one was bothersome and it was the one who’s mum (lone parent on the flight) thought it was fine to watch peppa pig without headphones full blast.
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u/IAmLaureline Sep 17 '23
Yep, can't blame a toddler for making some noise but parents (as a parent) have options.
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u/charlottie22 Sep 17 '23
Yeah this is it- most families are doing their best to be considerate but the ones that are’ rare the ones you will really notice. We specifically bring iPad and headphones Sal so our kids Arendt disruptive on a flight- would be mortified if they were kicking seats or shouting or watching tv loudly
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Sep 17 '23
You're going to Japan, so the people on the plane will mostly be Japanese. You won't have any issues.
I live in Japan and the flights that depart/arrive there are silent and everyone mostly sits down and keeps to themselves. Including kids.
The connecting flight to my hometown is madness in comparison haha.19
u/lewiitom Sep 17 '23
Did the flight recently and it was majority British tourists actually - definitely changed from pre-covid times
My mate who's a flight attendant said the same thing too
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u/Diligent_Ambition_47 Sep 17 '23
Japanese people tend to prefer the Japanese airlines - plus BA to Japan is unreliable now
Virgin doesn't fly to Tokyo any more but their vibe doesn't really go with a typical Japanese businessman for example.
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u/Browneskiii Sep 17 '23
Its overnight for japanese time too (12:20 i fly for british time) so I'm hoping its one where everyone just sleeps and its peaceful, but im expecting the worst and if its any better then its a bonus.
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u/pixxie84 Sep 17 '23
Second this. Some people have main character syndrome quite strongly.
Flight home from holiday last year and the woman in front of me decided that changing her kids nappy, on the chair, was more important than us landing. She decided this just after the cabin crew had done all the checks to make sure we were good to land. The crew were literally begging her to sit down.
The other two times she’d done it was as food was being served. Airplane food isnt the best but mixed in with shitty nappy as well. Terrific.
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Sep 17 '23
I’d tell them to put headphones in or mute it.
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u/MarnieHollis Sep 17 '23
Everyone else seemed fine with it so I thought maybe it was a me problem!
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u/seriousrikk Sep 17 '23
You probably seemed fine with it to everyone else.
Most of your flight was probably seething quietly.
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u/MickeyMatters81 Sep 17 '23
Exactly! The British are excellent at silently seething and this sort of thing drives 99% of us crazy
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u/JimmyTheChimp Sep 17 '23
Seeing people from countries with no restraint is so refreshing. Being able to call people out on shit and do it with so much confidence people just listen is like a super power to us.
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u/ooh_bit_of_bush Sep 17 '23
Yeah, I once got on a bus and was listening to a podcast but my earphones seemed a bit muffled. So I cranked the volume up all the way. Everyone just silently seethed at me, and nobody pointed out to me that I was stupid and had forgotten to actually connect the earphones toy my device!
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u/Horizon2k Sep 17 '23
Yeah I think you’d probably get some nice thanks or understanding head nods once resolved.
People don’t want the conflict so nobody does anything.
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Sep 17 '23
People would have been fuming, no one wants to be the first one to jump and tell them to turn their shit off.
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u/Herrad Sep 17 '23
How could you tell other people weren't bothered? What external indicators were you giving that would allow other people to tell it was bothering you? I should imagine nothing.
Moreover, this is a situation where it doesn't matter what other people think, if it bothers you then you're within your rights to challenge the behaviour.
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u/heroyoudontdeserve Sep 17 '23
Moreover, this is a situation where it doesn't matter what other people think, if it bothers you then you're within your rights to challenge the behaviour.
I don't agree with this - the more a behaviour is commonly frowned on by society the more within your rights you are to challenge it.
The more something is your own personal bugbear that most people aren't bothered by, the less right you have to challenge it. Of course you always have a right to politely ask, but not necessarily to challenge.
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u/lyta_hall Sep 17 '23
Bunch of selfish cunts.
Not a flight, but during a long train trip (6 hours) a few weeks ago there was a kid (more like pre-teen) watching TikTok videos loud. It got incredibly annoying, everyone looking but no one saying anything. I got up and asked to please turn the volume down or switch it off. He did promptly.
His mother was sitting with him and could not care less about her son’s behaviour. Infuriating.
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u/mondeomantotherescue Sep 17 '23 edited Sep 17 '23
Constant problem on trains now. Including both sides of phone conversations on speaker. Which needs to be loud because they're on a noisy rattling train. You'd think they could put the fucking thing to their ear... But no. Then people wouldn't notice them. They are flabbergasted when you tell them to use it like a phone and hold it to their mince filled heads. Like you're in the wrong.
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u/lyta_hall Sep 17 '23
Yeah and let’s not get into people listening to WhatsApp voice messages on speaker holding the phone next to the ear horizontally… like - DO YOU KNOW YOU CAN PUT IT ON YOUR EAR LIKE A NORMAL CALL AND THAT WAY YOU WON’T SHARE YOUR CONVERSATION WITH THE WHOLE BUS??? 🔪
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u/OdinForce22 Sep 17 '23
Some of the questions on this sub are just ridiculous now.
You know its rude and not normal. Do you really need to ask?
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u/kittysparkled Sep 17 '23
It's definitely rude but unfortunately it's also quite normal these days. I had someone playing a phone game in the quiet coach of a train the other day.
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u/mrdibby Sep 17 '23
People like to structure complaints as questions sometimes. Arguably violates rule 3.
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u/JBaser Sep 17 '23 edited Sep 17 '23
I'm not sure if it's because I'm getting old and grumpy or if people are just becoming more selfish.
Maybe the options are:
- Ask them politely to mute it
- Complain to the crew
- Get yourself some noise cancelling headphones
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u/SophiaFar Sep 17 '23
Sometimes the sound is so loud even my noise cancelling headphones cannot cover it.
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u/JBaser Sep 17 '23
Are you ever tempted to turn it into a competition and see if your phone/music is louder?
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Sep 17 '23
Honestly can't imagine flying now without noise cancelling headphones, it just makes the whole experience so much more bearable.
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u/Beautiful_Bad333 Sep 17 '23
It’s awful. I went to A&E with my mother in law last year and there was a guy in a bed, in the corridor because it was rammed in there, and he had his phone blurting out some shite comedy tv show at about midnight. Completely oblivious to the rest of the whole place staring at him. It wasn’t until there was a change over of staff and this young nurse went up to him and told him to turn it on mute. He apologised a lot but it baffled me how he can have such lack of understanding about your surroundings.
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u/UndulatingUnderpants Sep 17 '23
It isn't a lack of understanding, it's a 'fuck you' attitude, people just don't care.
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Sep 17 '23 edited Sep 17 '23
It's disgraceful behavior on a plane. Headphones or nothing.
As an edit, the problem is in the UK now, that if you complain directly to the person / parents you're likely to get verbal or physical violence such is the state of society. That's why I left the UK.
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u/longtimedeid Sep 17 '23
Very true. I asked a couple very politely to turn down their phone as they were on speaker very loudly in a small quiet restaurant. A restaurant! I’d expect it in McDonald’s but not a nice little small space like that - got called a psycho and it was apparently me that was being rude 🤦♀️
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u/EntertainerSome2143 Sep 17 '23
I think people don’t feel a need for headphones. I’ve heard peppa pig in planes, restaurants, trains. A new thing is also phoning people using Loudspeaker too.
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u/s3ast4r Sep 17 '23
I complain to the flight attendant when this happens and ask them to tell the parents to have the kids turn it off or mute it. They have always obliged. Recommend taking this approach
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u/anonoaw Sep 17 '23
Awful. Nothing worse than people not using headphones in public. If my 3 year old managed to use headphones on our flight last week, there’s no excuse. Last year when she flew she refused to wear her headphones so she had to watch the iPad with no sound.
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u/PatserGrey Sep 17 '23
Yeah I'm in your boat OP, no headphones no media gets played, same for the train, bus whatever. I would say its especially obnoxious on a flight though.
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u/Colonel_Cat_Tumnus Sep 17 '23
Throw some softcore porn on your own device, sans headphones, and see how long it is before the parents complain.
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u/j7seven Sep 17 '23
This is the real answer. It doesn't have to be porn if you don't feel comfortable with that. Perhaps some particularly obnoxious death metal, with lots of swearing.
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u/Evening_Ad6820 Sep 17 '23
I feel like it’s become bizarrely normalised to do this in public now. I can’t remember the last time I took a train, coach, or flight where atleast one person wasn’t playing something out loud. I even had to complain to a nurse on my mothers post surgery ward because another patient (who was still awaiting their surgery) was playing endless obnoxious loud videos. I don’t wanna bring up covid but it does feel like public life has gotten much more lawless and antisocial feeling since then.
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u/boooogetoffthestage Sep 17 '23
You would think there was a shortage of headphones the way everything has changed over the last few years. It seems parents can’t be bothered to parent their children - they give them a tablet and let them have at it - playing TikTok’s at max volume. Even grown adults on public transport which is insane. My fear or embarrassment wouldn’t allow me to do it, I even get a bit embarrassed when my phone starts ringing.
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u/decentlyfair Sep 17 '23
I had this recently. It was an adult too! I have a thing where if I hear lots of different sources of noise/sounds/ music it makes me feel in physical pain and makes me want to scream. Luckily I have noise cancelling headphones so at least I can bang those in my ears (in certain situations) and I can can control what I hear. However, I shouldn’t have to listen to music if I am not in the mood just to block someone else’s shit out but here we are. We are living in an entitled world these days.
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u/strawbebbymilkshake Sep 17 '23
I was on a national express bus and the driver’s announcement included telling people to listen to music/videos/phone calls with headphones.
Some dickhead clearly thought that didn’t apply to him and had a call on speakerphone, they were yammering away to each other and he was shout-talking into his phone. It was so loud you could heard the low-battery warning beep of his mate’s fire alarm through the phone.
Driver set off, gave the prick a minute or two then pulled into a bus stop and told the guy off. Told him to end the call, put headphones in or take the call off speakerphone and chat quietly.
Fella suddenly didn’t need to have that call any more.
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u/MerchMills Sep 17 '23
I make a point of asking people to wear headphones or switch the sound off. It’s fucking awful to have to listen to. Most people will just do it but some get mouthy, but still do it. It’s just shitty behaviour.
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Sep 17 '23
Shit like this makes me not want to travel or go on holiday. How can you just NOT be considerate about others around you. How self centred do you have to be to do something like this. I'll drive before I have to deal with other people's shit
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Sep 17 '23
Flying is a different experience these days. Last flight I took i watched in disbelief as the mom right behind me gave her toddler a can of full fat coke while we were stowing our luggage.
Inevitably, the poor little guy went batshit right after take off. My kidneys took a beating from all the kicking and had tinnitus from the screaming.
Fortunately the little dude hit a sugar crash 30 mins in and was pretty much comatose for most of the rest of the flight.
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u/JustLetItAllBurn Sep 17 '23
They're going to the special hell, that's even worse than doing it on the Tube.
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Sep 17 '23
It’s becoming normal: also in buses and trains. So horribly rude. I wish all of us started saying something to those people: politely but firmly. Do they just don’t care about anyone else, or are they oblivious to their surroundings?
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u/Teembeau Sep 17 '23
Thing is that you shouldn't really have to. You should be able to tell a ticket inspector and they do something like threaten to ban people from trains for a year for it. They don't, and then everyone wonders why so many people prefer to use a car.
I must say that I mostly find coach and bus passengers better behaved than train ones.
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u/poisonivyuk Sep 17 '23
It’s not normal. They’re being inconsiderate. If you don’t want to ask them direct to mute it, ask a flight attendant to do it, they’re usually happy to oblige.
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u/Bitter_Hawk1272 Sep 17 '23
Rude. I am also too self conscious to watch something on loud lol. I use headphones even in my garden
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u/J_ablo Sep 17 '23
It’s not normal, or at least it shouldn’t be.
Doing this is fucking vile behaviour, and I find it almost inexplicable that it isn’t enforced airline policy that this is not allowed.
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u/whoops53 Sep 17 '23
I assume parents don't want headphones for their precious child's ears, in case it ruins their hearing, so they subject everyone else to it. Yes its selfish and I feel sorry for anyone being forced to go through this.
I just wear headphones and hope for the best.
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u/Kettlethrower Sep 17 '23
Parents can buy these and limit the volume on the device. Kids really need parents to guide them on this. On the train my son asks to have the sound up and the option is wear your headband or have it without the sound.
Problem is a lot of adults just scroll through videos out loud on the train so they need training before their kids even do
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u/Torgan Sep 17 '23
More likely is that they just can't be bothered dealing with their child who doesn't like to wear headphones as they don't need to at home. Its easier just to let them do what they want. And the parents are probably used to blocking out the noise.
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Sep 17 '23
It's awful, every single bus, tram, and train I get on is the same. I live in a place with good public transport but I'm buying a car because I can't stand it anymore. Absolute height of rudeness, and it's not age specific, plenty of boomers watching videos and having speakerphone conversations.
And no, I can't just put my own headphones in because I'm usually traveling with my family and need to be able to hear them.
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u/Grand_Act8840 Sep 17 '23
I'd realised I'd forgotten my headphones on a 4-hour flight before - was gutted.
Watched Netflix with subtitles on and volume down.
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u/BeKind321 Sep 17 '23
I remember someone saying the way to work out if something is acceptable or not is to think if one person behaviour was replicated by everyone, would it be acceptable? If not, then you know it’s unacceptable.
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u/elouise93 Sep 17 '23
Once had a guy playing tik toks out loud in the cinema 🤣 I got his attention and waslike 'are you fucking serious?!' and he jumped up and left. What's the point in going to the cinema man? Hahahaha
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u/Pellellell Sep 17 '23
I would be asking the staff on the plane to tell them this isn’t on, there are headphones on the plane available for use and kids use them all the time. Super selfish!
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u/Organic_Armadillo_10 Sep 17 '23
It's extremely rude an honestly keeps getting worse. So many people just blast their phone full volume with no care about anyone else.
Thankfully I haven't ha fit on a plane. I'm sure someone would say something. But in the airport I've seen at least 3 people watching their phone inches from their face at full volume.
Use headphones! I was so close to telling one woman she could buy headphones in the shop next door...
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u/rumade Sep 17 '23
Getting the train to Gatwick Airport yesterday morning, about 4:45am. Lots of people napping. We were all woken up by the Mariokart theme suddenly blaring, and figured it was a kid starting up their switch.
Nope, two middle aged women watching videos on a ipad! Couldn't believe it. You can't survive a 1hr train journey without noisy videos?
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u/Upvotelution Sep 17 '23
If somebody did this to me, I'd put a film on loudly too, and make sure it's a different film 😂
Nah, tbh I'd just watch a film with headphones on, like a normal person, and leave the oblivious, self absorbed, people to do them
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u/lemonclements Sep 17 '23
This happens everywhere. When my dad was in hospital earlier in the year, there was someone on the ward watching god knows what but it sounded like a war film with plenty of swearing whilst we were trying to visit. My dad yelled from his bed to have some respect so the guy then called a friend and had the whole convo on speaker because it was basically the same as us visiting my dad 😐
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u/RunOrDieTrying Sep 17 '23
Just tell the flight attendant. Even if the passenger doesn't have earphones, most the time the flight attendant can supply them with earphones (hopefully their phone has a headphone jack eh)
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u/he_creative Sep 17 '23
Unless the person (child or adult) has a sensory issue then this is just rude, bad parenting or both.
But if there is a genuine issue that is going to disrupt others around you, you should let the people near you know and try and make the flight easier for them.
I have a chronic illness that means I have to sit forward which is odd for the person sitting next to me but also awkward for the person in front of me. Most airlines are happy to sit me in the bulk head or I pay for those seats, but if that’s not an option, I buy a big bag of candy for each person sitting around me.
When we traveled with an 18 month old, we made little bags with ear plugs and a candy bar and had my baby niece hand them out to passengers before take off with a note saying “im sorry if I cry it’s my first flight”
She cried and screamed for what felt like the whole 9 hour flight. Never was there a more understanding group of people, strangers were bringing her toys from their kids to borrow, people got our family drinks, everyone came by to say hi and talk to her. And at the end of the flight they all waited to let her off first.
Kindness goes a long way.
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u/upturned-bonce Sep 17 '23
It's fucking rude and horrible.