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Delta CEO: No Voice Calls on Our Flights

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Re: Delta CEO: No Voice Calls on Our Flights

#31

Post by ericd »

manicbovine wrote: post #28
ericd wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a very large difference between white noise and conversation. I'm pretty surprised that I have to point that out. Then again, you're arguing that we should become less considerate as a society.

Or perhaps that the silence mongers should become more considerate. And white noise tends to drown out human voices. I'm pretty surprised that I have to point that out.

It doesn't drown them out very effectively at the distances you're dealing with in a plane, and cell phones would be worse as people would be talking louder than normal into them. I stepped off a plane an hour ago, and I'm absolutely sure that your proposal would make an already somewhat unpleasant process much worse.

Silence in public places is a coping strategy for crowded environments - it's the least intrusive thing you can do to the other people in your space. It's like the difference between jumping around and shuffling quietly when you're in the middle of a crowd - one may be more fun for the person jumping around, but it's selfish, because it makes everyone else's experience less fun, as their toes get mashed on.

That's really the crux of it. Talking on your cell phone when you're mashed up against other people is a purely selfish act. That's why it will always be considered rude.

Re: Delta CEO: No Voice Calls on Our Flights

#32

Post by sakura_k »

Close your eyes and picture the last time you saw a clueless chatterbox gabbing on a cell phone. What do you remember? The nails-on-chalkboard voice? The hideous oversharing? Think deeper. Think of the flapping hands and the upper body articulation. Think of how oblivious that chatterbox was to any social cues, subtle or overt, that the world at large might not wish to share quite so deeply in its private discourse. Now imagine you're trapped 17" away (average distance between passengers' centers of mass on an international flight) from that clueless gesticulating chatterbox for 8 hours. If you honestly think that's no problem I won't call you a hypocrite. For me, cell phone chats go right down with cigarettes and guns as things that are so awful that even trapped air passengers shouldn't have to endure them.

Re: Delta CEO: No Voice Calls on Our Flights

#33

Post by Camillo »

georgemcbay wrote: post #4

I'm not a big fan of people who are always on their phones but I don't think disallowing them on planes really solves any actual real world problem. Those chatterboxes who need to be talking will just continue to annoy the stranger sitting next to them or chatterbox with their friend sitting next to them if they are travelling in a group. Either way I need to filter them out with headphones or whatever. And while I h…

Send a text instead.

Re: Delta CEO: No Voice Calls on Our Flights

#34

Post by [deleted] »

ericd wrote: post #31
manicbovine wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or perhaps that the silence mongers should become more considerate. And white noise tends to drown out human voices. I'm pretty surprised that I have to point that out.

It doesn't drown them out very effectively at the distances you're dealing with in a plane, and cell phones would be worse as people would be talking louder than normal into them. I stepped off a plane an hour ago, and I'm absolutely sure that your proposal would make an already somewhat unpleasant process much worse. Silence in public places is a coping strategy for crowded environments - it's the least intrusive th…

[deleted]

Re: Delta CEO: No Voice Calls on Our Flights

#35

Post by manicbovine »

ericd wrote: post #31
manicbovine wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or perhaps that the silence mongers should become more considerate. And white noise tends to drown out human voices. I'm pretty surprised that I have to point that out.

It doesn't drown them out very effectively at the distances you're dealing with in a plane, and cell phones would be worse as people would be talking louder than normal into them. I stepped off a plane an hour ago, and I'm absolutely sure that your proposal would make an already somewhat unpleasant process much worse. Silence in public places is a coping strategy for crowded environments - it's the least intrusive th…

White noise is a more effective sound barrier in small spaces like planes. This is why the captain's announcements must be broadcast in very high-pitched tones.

Perhaps someone's need for a phone call is more important than my desire for quiet. I don't know, it's completely irrelevant to me because I don't go around looking for things to get offended about.

As a sidenote, I could make your same basic argument about crying babies, and yet nobody would take me seriously if I proposed a ban on babies.

Re: Delta CEO: No Voice Calls on Our Flights

#36

Post by diminoten »

sakura_k wrote: post #32

Close your eyes and picture the last time you saw a clueless chatterbox gabbing on a cell phone. What do you remember? The nails-on-chalkboard voice? The hideous oversharing? Think deeper. Think of the flapping hands and the upper body articulation. Think of how oblivious that chatterbox was to any social cues, subtle or overt, that the world at large might not wish to share quite so deeply in its private discourse.…

Thing is, I can't picture the last time I saw a clueless chatterbox gabbing on a cell phone.

I dunno who these people are I'm supposed to be afraid of. The face of the enemy is not known to me.

Re: Delta CEO: No Voice Calls on Our Flights

#37

Post by PKop »

manicbovine wrote: post #26
PKop wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And I'd really like to travel without the annoyance of hearing other passengers loudly talking on the phone next to me. An airline that enforced a no phone call policy would be more desirable to me, all things being equal. Perhaps some will allow it and some won't, and we all can have choices. Also, jet engine being loud not the same as distinctly loud talking. More like a uniform white noise that does not prevent sl…

Yeah, you're right about the choices. (However, I suspect that Delta's position is bad business in the long run.) This just seems like such a dated and irrelevant stand for Delta to take. Cellphones are here to stay. We live in crowded spaces and it's time for everyone to simply get used to the sound of other humans. I have no idea why everyone places value on public silence. Is this a holdover cultural strain from t…

Everybody has their preferences I guess, but I couldn't disagree with you more. I think because cellphones are ubiquitous and used everywhere and always, silence and being able to not have to hear other humans talking on them for a couple hours is a small consolation.

Traveling is uncomfortable. Avoiding one aspect of that discomfort by allowing for some peace and quiet is a minor short term inconvenience for the few people that feel the need to talk on the phone around complete strangers. How about texting.. wouldn't that suffice? Then it would seem both parties could be happy... the callers could get their message across and those that prefer silence wouldn't have to hear it.

Re: Delta CEO: No Voice Calls on Our Flights

#38

Post by manicbovine »

PKop wrote: post #37
manicbovine wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, you're right about the choices. (However, I suspect that Delta's position is bad business in the long run.) This just seems like such a dated and irrelevant stand for Delta to take. Cellphones are here to stay. We live in crowded spaces and it's time for everyone to simply get used to the sound of other humans. I have no idea why everyone places value on public silence. Is this a holdover cultural strain from t…

Everybody has their preferences I guess, but I couldn't disagree with you more. I think because cellphones are ubiquitous and used everywhere and always, silence and being able to not have to hear other humans talking on them for a couple hours is a small consolation. Traveling is uncomfortable. Avoiding one aspect of that discomfort by allowing for some peace and quiet is a minor short term inconvenience for the few…

To tell you the truth, my preference is strongly against cell phones. I don't even have a voice plan.

The thing is that I simply respect other adults enough to let them decide whether it's ok to make a phone call. We're all adults, we all know that loud phone calls are disturbing, and we all might one day have a great reason to make a loud phone call. Sure, there are some rude people, but why let them spoil adulthood for the rest of us?

To put it another way, large institutions should not concern themselves with matters of human etiquette. Rules intended to preserve good manners are almost always more harmful than good. Mundane human relations should be as informal as possible - any time constant formalization of our interactions is an impediment to progress.

Re: Delta CEO: No Voice Calls on Our Flights

#39

Post by CaptainZapp »

nisse72 wrote: post #29
bradleyjg wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The guy behind me on the train this morming was traveling by himself. Other than the 15 minutes he spent loudly participating in a settlement conference call (violating client confidentiality I might add) he was perfectly quiet. There was no evidence that he was a compulsive chatterbox, he just found it convienient to take a call right then and didn't care how many people he bothered. While it is true that other peop…

If you'd been travelling with SJ (Swedish railway) you could have chosen a quiet section, where cell phones are expected to be turned off and even conversations are discouraged. http://www.sj.se/sj/jsp/polopoly.jsp?d=189&a=34903&l=en

SNCF (The French railway company) specifically asks you by signage and by loudspeaker announcement to leave the car and make phone calls in the intersection between cars on their TGV trains.

Re: Delta CEO: No Voice Calls on Our Flights

#40

Post by vl »

georgemcbay wrote: post #4

I'm not a big fan of people who are always on their phones but I don't think disallowing them on planes really solves any actual real world problem. Those chatterboxes who need to be talking will just continue to annoy the stranger sitting next to them or chatterbox with their friend sitting next to them if they are travelling in a group. Either way I need to filter them out with headphones or whatever. And while I h…

Oh, irony, is it the same Delta that had phones installed in all headrests that had credit card slot and some ridiculous fee to make a call just mere 10-15 years ago?

CEO, attendants and passengers didn't mind back then.

I think that they should install roaming cell phone station in every plane and charge $1/min, all providers will jump on that. Then it will sort itself out economically - it will to expensive to chat a lot, but still affordable if there is a strong need to do so.

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