Austman
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- Sep 21, 2007
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I need some help on the how.
Was on a Qantas 767 in a Y-class exit row aisle "J" seat. The window "K" seat was still empty when I checked-in in the Qantas J lounge but was occupied by a person chatting on their iPhone when I got to my seat. The crew made the PA announcement to turn off all electronics after enabling flight mode if there was one. The announcement was loud and clear at our seats. Mr K still made calls. At push back I said, firmly I admit, "Sir, you really need to turn your phone off - the announcement was made some minutes ago". But Mr K disagreed - he said it was not my job to make such statements and that the crew would do a walk past and they would tell him to switch off his phone then. He said he was a frequent flyer and that this was the way it was always done. He then went on to make another call with me watching. So I paged for the FA. Mr K then hastily ended his call just as the FA approached. I reported to the FA that Mr K was making new calls even after the PA announcement. Mr K had by now switched off his phone. Mr K asked the FA "You walk through and ask people to turn off their phones, don't you?". The FA replied "Yes, if we have the time". The FA left - Mr K then told me I was wrong and in any event he had not heard the PA announcement so he was not to blame. He also claimed he had not been making new calls - he had been checking his voicemail - and that my behaviour was obnoxious. I pointed out that checking voicemail was still making a call! At this point I did call him a jerk and doubted very much he was a frequent flyer (because he would know the process announcements better) and left it at that. Mr K then proceeded to hog the armrest and put his newspaper almost in my face. At seat-belt sign off, he paged for a FA himself. The same FA came and he said he wanted to clarify the rules due to my objection. He asked the same (leading) question. The FA gave the same response as before: that they did walk through the cabin when possible. She didn't seem to mind that Mr K had ignored/not heard the PA announcement. Mr K then felt completely vindicated.
I should have just kept quiet. But now I felt pretty bad sitting next to Mr K. And I should not have called him anything.
So how to do it? If a passenger genuinely forgets to switch their phone off they would probably be OK with a reminder from another passenger. But when they think they know the procedure better, you might be in for an unpleasant dispute.
Was on a Qantas 767 in a Y-class exit row aisle "J" seat. The window "K" seat was still empty when I checked-in in the Qantas J lounge but was occupied by a person chatting on their iPhone when I got to my seat. The crew made the PA announcement to turn off all electronics after enabling flight mode if there was one. The announcement was loud and clear at our seats. Mr K still made calls. At push back I said, firmly I admit, "Sir, you really need to turn your phone off - the announcement was made some minutes ago". But Mr K disagreed - he said it was not my job to make such statements and that the crew would do a walk past and they would tell him to switch off his phone then. He said he was a frequent flyer and that this was the way it was always done. He then went on to make another call with me watching. So I paged for the FA. Mr K then hastily ended his call just as the FA approached. I reported to the FA that Mr K was making new calls even after the PA announcement. Mr K had by now switched off his phone. Mr K asked the FA "You walk through and ask people to turn off their phones, don't you?". The FA replied "Yes, if we have the time". The FA left - Mr K then told me I was wrong and in any event he had not heard the PA announcement so he was not to blame. He also claimed he had not been making new calls - he had been checking his voicemail - and that my behaviour was obnoxious. I pointed out that checking voicemail was still making a call! At this point I did call him a jerk and doubted very much he was a frequent flyer (because he would know the process announcements better) and left it at that. Mr K then proceeded to hog the armrest and put his newspaper almost in my face. At seat-belt sign off, he paged for a FA himself. The same FA came and he said he wanted to clarify the rules due to my objection. He asked the same (leading) question. The FA gave the same response as before: that they did walk through the cabin when possible. She didn't seem to mind that Mr K had ignored/not heard the PA announcement. Mr K then felt completely vindicated.
I should have just kept quiet. But now I felt pretty bad sitting next to Mr K. And I should not have called him anything.
So how to do it? If a passenger genuinely forgets to switch their phone off they would probably be OK with a reminder from another passenger. But when they think they know the procedure better, you might be in for an unpleasant dispute.
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