[MartynSinclair]

With respect to all the thoughts and opinions – the answer to a very direct question has not yet been answered:

Are passengers legally obliged to listen to the safety briefing ?

(we all agree one should, whether out of politeness or to encourage others)…

[FormerlyDoS]

Martyn

The question does not state the jurisdiction.

Nor does it describe in sufficient detail what ‘legally obliged’ or even ‘listen’ means. Does the latter just mean shut up and look at the briefing?

Thus it cannot be answered directly.

If you ask the question another way, you may get an answer, e.g.

Do the aviation laws/regulations in [insert name of jurisdiction] state passengers must listen to the safety briefing?

[MartynSinclair]

Do the aviation laws/regulations in the UK or USA state passengers must listen to the safety briefing?

[FormerlyDoS]

IIRC, both state only that the briefing should be provided, but I do not have exhaustive knowledge of the laws in either country.

Hopefully someone with better knowledge may answer.

[BA4ever]

Seriously, why is this important? Do we need a law to act sensibly?
Even if the crew member used it as an excuse, she probably only did it because the passenger wasn’t behaving properly, not because she was in the mood to lie or make up something!

[JKL]

Talking of endangering other passengers’ safety, I was on a long-haul fight the other day where a chap a few rows in front decided the start of the take-off roll was the perfect time to get up and walk around the cabin. We were well into the air before the crew managed to get him back to his seat. The consequences (for other passengers, never mind him) had the pilot needed to abort the take-off don’t really bear thinking about.

Does anyone know what kind of sanctions airlines can (and do) take against people doing this? He got a telling off from the in-charge crew member shortly afterwards and at the end of the flight I noticed a crew member come and take down his passport details, but I have no idea what other action was or may yet be taken – he wasn’t detained etc. Just curious really. It would be somewhat reassuring to know that airlines do actually follow up this sort of thing rather than just let it pass.

[Hilaryd]

According to parties on this post, for asking what I thought was a simple question seeking and honest answer the follow comments/insinuations have been posted …
– I am bad mannered
– I am stupid
– I am selfish
– I should be offloaded(!)
– I deserved it because I was misbehaving..
I can assure you as a professional lady with a responsible position, who was brought up by Father to respect others, none of the above applies and I am honestly and truthfully shocked by your comments and negativity.
Adios …..

[Hilaryd]

According to parties on this post, for asking what I thought was a simple question seeking and honest answer the follow comments/insinuations have been posted …
– I am bad mannered
– I am stupid
– I am selfish
– I should be offloaded(!)
– I deserved it because I was misbehaving..
I can assure you as a professional lady with a responsible position, who was brought up by Father to respect others, none of the above applies and I am honestly and truthfully shocked by your comments and negativity.
Adios …..

[Hilaryd]

According to parties on this post, for asking what I thought was a simple question seeking and honest answer the follow comments/insinuations have been posted …
– I am bad mannered
– I am stupid
– I am selfish
– I should be offloaded(!)
– I deserved it because I was misbehaving..
I can assure you as a professional lady with a responsible position, who was brought up by Father to respect others, none of the above applies and I am honestly and truthfully shocked by your comments and negativity.
Adios …..

[Hilaryd]

According to parties on this post, for asking what I thought was a simple question seeking and honest answer the follow comments/insinuations have been posted …
– I am bad mannered
– I am stupid
– I am selfish
– I should be offloaded(!)
– I deserved it because I was misbehaving..
I can assure you as a professional lady with a responsible position, who was brought up by Father to respect others, none of the above applies and I am honestly and truthfully shocked by your comments and negativity.
Adios …..

[MartynSinclair]

There was a similar discussion a month or so back about passengers removing cases/belongings during an evacuation. We all said it was dangerous, impeded the evacuation and could have resulted in a severe danger to other passengers. The airline employees who responded to that question appeared to imply, there was nothing illegal about this, irrespective of whether it was correct or not.

The question about listening to the safety briefing is equally interesting. I am not questioning and I am sure Hilaryd was not questioning whether one should, but merely, is it a legal requirement (added jurisdiction UK and USA, by me).

Quite honestly, if the answer is no its not, it should be and if it is yes it is, then it needs to be enforced more thoroughly, for everyone who is sitting in the passenger cabin.

Opinions are sometimes not the answer … Air Crew are professionals and I would have thought they would have been able to answer this question posed by Hilaryd, who I hope will remain contributing to the Forum..

[FormerlyDoS]

Hilaryd – 04/10/2013 23:51 GMT

Don’t ask for an honest answer, if you are going to be offended by the responses.

The very fact that you need to know whether the cabin crew had a lawful basis to ask you to remove your headphones is insightful.

Adios.

[MartynSinclair]

FDoS – I don’t think there is a need for any response that could be deemed offensive.

This is a very interesting question, simply because many passengers, including many airline staff, appear to believe a safety briefing is not mandatory for their ears.

Further, this would give the Crew just cause to tell the offenders to “belt up and listen up!” – rather than the current system of politely ignoring those who are reading papers and talking through the safety briefing.

There should be no need for the pilots to appear to need to beg passengers to listen to the safety briefing..

[openfly]

Back onto this subject……

Many years ago I was on a BCAL flight…memories…. The crew were doing the safety briefing. There were three businessmen , too pompous to give the crew their attention, guffawing and talking loudly. I was surprised that they didn’t ask them to be quiet. At the end of the briefing I informed them that it was impossible to hear the briefing and would they repeat it on safety grounds.

To my surprise, they came on the PA and said that ” as the gentlemen in row 11 have obviously not listened to the previous safety briefing we are going to repeat it, for their benefit” …… And they did! With all eyes on row 11….not a murmur from them. Result!

[LuganoPirate]

Out of curiousity I had a look at airline law, and while the safety demo is obligatory, I can find no mention of it being legally required to listen to. I guess it comes down to enforcement and the practical issue of making someone listen to something. How do you do it?

I would guess no more than 15% of passengers pay much attention, and with around 800,000,000 people being carried last year alone, I’ve not heard of one person being prosecuted for “not listening”. Surely, out of 700 million odd people not listening, one would have been prosecuted if the law allowed it?

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