[TominScotland]

Comedy theatre last night on BA11 to Singapore. I was in the front row of Economy in the High J 747 (see elsewhere for my review). The gentleman behind me was not a happy bunny as I gather that he had transfered from BA15 (a 777) where his selected seat was one with extra legroom. Anyway, he moaned and moaned, clearly fishing for a move to a seat furher forward. The cabin crew were helpful but, with a full flight, there was not alot they could do.

After the safety demo had been played, same gent called cabin crew over to complain that, even though his IFE was working fine, the safety demo had not functioned. Cabin crew, reasonably IMO, asked whether he had leant over to view the demo on his neighbour’s monitor. No he had not but he is very concerned at having missed the demo and, by the way, maybe they could now reconsider his seat move request?

“Tell you what we will do, we’ll run through the safety demo manually specially for you”, says the crew member and proceeds to give the full spiel and demo with extra panache to this genetleman, now, shrinking with embarassment. Needless to say, there was considerable mirth among proximate passengers and said gentleman was quiet as a mouse for the remainder of the flight!!

[judynagy]

HilaryD, you may or may not be any of those things, but you are too sensitive to be posting on an anonymous forum if you are bothered by the (often inane) things people say to/about you. Don’ worry about it! You have no idea who the people are who are offending you, so why should you care? I’m of the opinion that probably nobody knows the answer to the legality of attentiveness to the airline safety spiel, but an internet forum is one that interests people because they can express themselves. For the record, I was informed not too long ago that the FA was “required to tell me not to get up before the seatbelt sign went off” but I was not required to stay in my seat. I was amazed; I guess most people, including me, think it’s a legal thing.
As far as the safety speech goes, I have it memorized; it’s important to me to know what to do.

[FormerlyDoS]

” I’m of the opinion that probably nobody knows the answer to the legality of attentiveness to the airline safety spiel”

Let’s clear that up then,

1 – the laws in the UK say a briefing must be provided
2 – the laws do not say anything about pax listening
3 – the laws make the pilot in command responsible for ensuring the flight is safe and give him the authority to do this
4 – the pilot in command delegates the authority to the senior cabin crew member
5 – the senior crew member delegates the authority to the cabin crew members
6 – if a crew member asks someone to listen/stop talking, it is with the authority of the pilot in command
7 – if someone decides to argue and pushes the point, the commander has the authority to offload them

I trust that is clear? I had to pass a government test in air law as part of flight training.

[JKL]

@Judynagy – that amazes me too. I’ve always been under the impression that it is a legal requirement that passengers “obey any lawful command given by the crew” (or words to that effect), so when that announcement says “remain seated until the seat belt signs are switched off”, it is surely a legal requirement that passengers do so – notwithstanding that so many ignore it. Ditto for listening to the safety demonstration (or at least, not being blatant about not listening to it 😉

[BA4ever]

So, FormerlyDoS, we may not be obliged by the law to listen to the demonstration but the crew is obliged by the law to make sure that the flight is safe. And since a flight is not safe if all pax don’t know what to do in case of emergency, the crew can kick out any passenger who is not behaving as they should.
Bottom line: law or now law, if you don’t listen, you might as well be forced to leave the plane.

[Hilaryd]

Interesting….
Not sure how I can stop these popping up in my gmail account, but whilst I figure it out it’s interesting and indeed rather humorous to see that some people have again not listened to what has been said.
I have not been offended by any comments, since I have found many to be a tad bizarre such as the sheer likelihood of anyone sitting there, impeding others, with earphones on whilst the plane burns down around them! However, if anyone knows of earphones that put you into a state of such comatose please let me know since they would undoubtedly come in useful if my husband decides to start snoring.
I have just been shocked by the responses, many of which in my opinion have been unnecessarily negative, to what I thought was a simple question…..perhaps it’s expected behaviour though, although I cannot begin to think why?
One thing I have learned however is that forums are not for me. Despite being berated for being so stupid, or selfish, for choosing to doze instead of listening to a safety briefing I could recant in my sleep, I am no closer finding the answer and if I need anything in future, I’ll research it myself. Which is rather sad actually … since I’m sure forums should play a valuable part in today’s society of sharing information and ones I am sure I would have liked to participate in again.

[FormerlyDoS]

Hilaryd

You have been given the answer, more than once on this thread.

If you choose not to take it on-board, that’s your choice.

[FormerlyDoS]

“So, FormerlyDoS, we may not be obliged by the law to listen to the demonstration but the crew is obliged by the law to make sure that the flight is safe. And since a flight is not safe if all pax don’t know what to do in case of emergency, the crew can kick out any passenger who is not behaving as they should.”

Yep, that sums up my opinion and sadly, sometimes crew ‘turn a blind eye.’ I have found Ryanair more likely to intervene than any other airline, in asking people to be quiet and pay attention.

[BA4ever]

Hilaryd, unless we are not reading the same forums, you certainly got the answer to your question in this one.

FormerlyDoS, it is good to know, even though I am not travelling with them. I hope that all other airlines follow their lead. Perhaps if a few passengers are loaded off and it gets known, we will have less incidents of this insensitive behaviour.

[MartynSinclair]

Hilaryd – dont give up on the BT Forum so easily – we need new faces to freshen the place up a bit…. 🙂

[capetonianm]

Friday afternoon I was on a flight from BHX in the window seat. As we were taxiing out, as per instructions from the CC, and anyway as is my preference, my window blind was open. The oaf behind, who had his blind shut, reached forward and slammed mine shut too. I opened it, he shut it again, kicking the back of my seat hard as he did so. I turned round to him and told him it would stay open whether he liked it or not.

He then asked me to give him a good reason why it should stay open, I told him I would not get engage in any discussion with him on the matter, at which point a CC crew member came along and read him the riot act threatening him with offloading. Good stuff!

[MartynSinclair]

I wonder why BA no longer care whether the blinds are open / closed on t/o & landing. I really feel uncomfortable with the blinds down for departure or landing..

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