<p>Not to get political, but I really don’t understand why legislation has not passed requiring more leg room in airlines. Everyone wants to keep the cost down and the more people you can cram in that flying tube the cheaper it is for everyone else, but people are getting bigger and bigger and something should be done.</p>
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Very suspicious. “He who smelt it, dealt it.”</p>
<p>Racin, he left all three reclined the entire flight whether he was in them or not. Sometimes he laid across all three. My fiance asked him to stop and he laughed and didn’t, and this was a flight from Seattle to Detroit. I gave up years ago asking people to move their seats, it seems if they are inconsiderate enough to do it in the first place they are not considerate enough to care that they are bothering me. I get the dirtiest, nastiest look and they either don’t move, or they move for a few minutes and then recline right back-- sometimes even further back apparently just to spite me for daring to ask. I guess I should just have thicker skin and keep asking and dealing with spiteful nasty people for 3 hours every time I have to fly somewhere, but it just seems to make the flight even more unpleasant. I don’t think anybody has ever been polite about it when I’ve asked. I gave up.</p>
<p>I also really wish checked luggage was less expensive so people would actually check bags again, too. On one of our flights last year they didn’t even activate a carousel for our baggage and it was left in the baggage office (which we didn’t know) because we were the ONLY people on the completely full flight that actually checked a bag. I would take the seats in the plane that are behind the galley or whatever with nobody sitting in front to avoid having creepy old men recline into my lap, but with no seat in front to put our belongings under we are left with the possibility of either A) having to check my purse and my fiance’s laptop because the overhead bins are all full before we are allowed to board, or B) having to cram them into an overhead bin across the plane from where we are because that is all that is left available. We need to get the Delta credit card of membership or whatever it is that allows you priority boarding because getting onto the plane last is terrible. </p>
<p>But cell phones? I don’t care. I can only think of one or two occasions ever that I have had to deal with a loud talker on a cell phone. Either it just doesn’t happen that often or I am able to tune it out and don’t notice. I can remember packing headphones to play my gameboy on the plane as a child only to realize I needn’t have bothered because the plane was so loud I could play it on full blast and you couldn’t hear it-- not even through the headphones in your ears. On our last flight we were watching tv shows on my fiance’s laptop through headphones and I had to press the headphones into my ears to even hear. Unless the person next to me is screaming, I am probably not going to hear them.</p>
<p>Emaheevul07–Bose noise cancellation headphones are the answer. They are very expensive, but they are worth it if you travel frequently. I can block out all the noise, listen to my ipod or watch a movie without having to crank the volume up to high, which can’t be good for the ears!!!</p>
<p>I’m just glad they will allow us to read our kindle/nook/etc without having to turn it off during takeoff/landing. I always thought that was crazy since the book is on the device, not being accessed over the web or cellular network.</p>
<p>People have learned on NJ transit trains, several years ago people used to jabber away, loudly. today you don’t see a lot of people on the phones that much. On the bus line I ride on every day to NYC, they forbid talking on cell phones, you are supposed to text, which is fine. </p>
<p>I agree with others, having hear cell phone conversations, I can’t quite understand what is so important that they just have to talk and talk and talk, most of the conversation is inane. Back before they implemented the ban on my bus line, I remember once this woman with a grating voice (picture Joan Rivers, only louder), going on about her husband, Harold, and all his faults, then going on about her daughter in law, the cost of the meal at a restaurant last night (famous comment ‘for the cost of the meal, you would think they would hire a waitress who looked like Heidi Klum’), and so forth. People got really ***<em>ed off, and started answering, like "I don’t know, I thought Harold did the right thing, guy is okay’ or “well, I don’t know, I think your daughter in law has every right to let her daughter wear short skirts”…woman on the phone finally notices, and says “will you people please be quiet? This is a private conversation!” and one person yelled back "where the *bleep</em> do you think you <em>bleeping</em> are, your <em>bleeping</em> bedroom? </p>
<p>I suspect that yakkers are going to find that people are going to force them to self police. If someone needs to make a call, like to find out how a sick relative is or something with work, most people won’t object, as long as they keep it as quiet as possible (even on my bus people do make calls, and usually it seems to be important, like letting someone know the bus is late because it is stuck in traffic or a work call). What most cell phone yakkers don’t understand or want to understand is that like smoke, it doesn’t stay where they are, it intrudes on others space. Noise cancelling headphones are great things, love my Bose ones, but that doesn’t excuse people from mindlessly thinking their rights trump others. </p>
<p>Now if we can do something about apple ear buds, probably the most obnoxious piece of gear ever invented when you have to sit next to someone using them, they bleed all over the place, and worse, it is generally just treble, some drum beats ot synthesized crap <em>argggh</em>.</p>
<p>A true story that has entered legal legend: a partner at a big firm loudly discussing associate layoffs, with names named, on his cell phone on the Acela train between NY and DC. (For those outside the NE corridor/the legal profession, the Acela functions as more or less a mobile bar association with roughly the same ratio of lawyers per seat as your local courthouse.)</p>
<p>[A</a> Funny Thing Happened on the Way to New York(Or: Pillsbury associates, brace yourselves.) « Above the Law: A Legal Web Site ? News, Commentary, and Opinions on Law Firms, Lawyers, Law Schools, Law Suits, Judges and Courts + Career Resources](<a href=“http://abovethelaw.com/2009/02/a-funny-thing-happened-on-the-way-to-new-yorkor-pillsbury-associates-brace-yourselves/]A”>A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to New York(Or: Pillsbury associates, brace yourselves.) - Above the Law) </p>
<p>Hope we don’t see this on JFK-LAX flights next.</p>
<p>First of all- are there not going to be roaming charges? That was my understanding. Therefore, there might not be as much use as most of us fear.</p>
<p>I use the airplane wifi all the time (Southwest usually, but have used Delta, too). It is a permissible business expense and it sure is helpful for keeping up with work and my personal internet life!</p>
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<p>I guess a lot of people leave their readers on Wi-Fi mode all the time. I only have mine on when I’m downloading a book, which I wouldn’t be doing on a plane. (My device is a pure reader, no games, no email, no internet, nothing but books.) But if Wi-Fi mode is off, the device doesn’t interfere with anything.</p>
<p>“But if Wi-Fi mode is off, the device doesn’t interfere with anything.”</p>
<p>I don’t buy that there’s any meaningful risk even if the device is transmitting. Given the millions of cell phones in the air every day, it’s unavoidable that thousands of them will be inadvertently or negligently left on throughout the flight, and that’s been going on every day in every country for the 10+ years since cell phones became universal. If you can really bring a plane down with a cell phone, then we all ought to quit flying until FAA bans carrying them on.</p>
<p>Hanna, I was referring specifically to e-readers. But I agree that there’s no danger even with cell phones, except to the ears of fellow passengers.</p>
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My suggestion is to take out a pad and take notes on the conversation. Surely the person couldn’t object to that…?</p>
<ol>
<li><p>On a 2 hour flight 20 years ago in 1st class, the guy behind me used the air phone (!) for the entire flight … to go over and over and over and over all his anxieties about his sales call. </p></li>
<li><p>When I was a lawyer, again some 20 years ago, we got a phone call one morning from a client about another client saying, “Tell x that if he’s going to talk about possible mergers and acquisitions from a plane, he should realize others can hear.” In other words, one client on a private plane was listening to another client on another private plane talking about the deals he was looking to do. </p></li>
</ol>
<p>I am totally against cell phone use: all those people shouting into their phones in the seats next to me. NO!!!</p>
<p>I’m completely opposed to cell phone use on planes. It shouldn’t be up to the other passengers to defend ourselves by using noise-cancelling earphones.</p>
<p>Talking bothers me just as much as cell phones, I mean whats the difference?
Often the people behind me are having " conversations" but it is really one person giving such a monologue that she might as well be on a cell phone.
Saying Im not going to use my noise reducing headphones because others should * just be quiet*, doesn’t bother anyone but myself.</p>
<p>There will always be rude, loud talking people. But if cell phones are allowed, there will be more, because the ones who are flying alone will also be talking.</p>
<p>Before the Northeastern commuter rail lines instituted separate cars, apparently there was a website where you could post photos of obnoxious cell phone yammerers. If the airlines go ahead with this, I could see something like that springing up.</p>
<p>Agree with Fang – Why should I have to go to the trouble and expense of getting noise-cancelling headphones or other defenses? That’s like saying non-smokers can just get gas masks.</p>
<p>I’ve observed that there is much less annoying public cell phone conversation (in airports, stores, etc.) now than there was 10 years ago (when fewer people had cell phones). Texting. Nobody really wants others to hear them. Most people seem to prefer texting now.</p>
<p>emaheevul07 - try these, they PREVENT the seat in front of you from reclining. Mwhahahahahaha.</p>
<p>[The</a> original Knee Defender - travel gadgets accessory - airplane legroom, DVT - travel accessories](<a href=“http://www.gadgetduck.com/goods/kneedefender.html]The”>The original Knee Defender - travel gadgets accessory - airplane legroom, DVT - travel accessories)</p>
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<p>I agree, and what really annoys me is that the flight crew encourages it. There is almost always a PA announcement shortly after take-off telling us to “…lean back and enjoy the flight.” I’ve long since learned to be ready right after that announcement to dodge a seat back that will often come flying back to crush my knees or even smack me in the face if I happen to be leaning forward at that moment.</p>
<p>I’m tall but not extraordinarily so (6’1"), but when sitting in a coach seat on most airlines my knees are already firmly touching the seat back ahead of me even before we take off. When the person ahead later throws the seat back and painfully robs me of what little room I do have I feel like reaching up slapping him on the side of the head.</p>
<p>As for cell phones, I’m pleased that my main airline on which I’m Platinum (Delta) has already announced that they won’t allow it. If Delta sticks to their guns on this I may become so devoted to them that I end up qualifying for Diamond status.</p>
<p>As an LIRR commuter I can tell you that the quiet cars on each train have really improved your commuting life experience and I can also tell you that the conductors do enforce the quiet car rules. Prior to quiet car riding I was subjected to:</p>
<p>Guy in seat next to on the phone with an irate client reassuring client that he was literally standing by the fax machine and about to fax over corrected copy of item being discussed</p>
<p>Guy in seat next to me discussing new hire’s benefits package and telling them step by step what exactly to say when giving notice to his competitor</p>
<p>Guy in front of me discussing what minyan he was planning to attend and the benefits of early vs. late minyan… I tapped him on the shoulder and politely told him that I was happy he was going but I had no personal interest in knowing what time he was attending</p>
<p>Guy in aisle across from me on a very crowded Friday afternoon train where people were standing in the aisle with luggage heading out to the Hamptons and Fire Island and calling a list of 20 or so people to invite them to new baby’s christening and discuss in detail all the glories of life with an infant and the joys of changing multiple diapers</p>
<p>Guy next to me calling every person he knows in Israel to wish them a good shabbos… why not stay home and take the next train???</p>
<p>The best… guy who got a call from his wife telling him that Delta had cancelled their Christmas vacation flight to Montego Bay for family gathering of 15 people. He chose to call Delta right then and there… and initially calmly inquired whether that could possibly be true and he was just calling to verify as clearly his wife must have been given erroneous information. bviously he did not get the answer he wanted and since he was not exactly pleased with the options he was given… since his voice got louder and louder… to the point where literally everyone in our train car felt that they were being held hostage to this conversation and months afterward people stopped to ask him how his issue with Delta worked out… </p>
<p>I cannot imagine being subjected to more of this on a cross-country trip…think more roadtrips.</p>