That's the issue - Bose developed NR headsets for pilots, and expanded the product to sell to passengers, etc. Noise Reduction works best with a continuous noise source - engine hum, etc. It doesn't work too well with transients - people talking, babies crying, PAs squawking, etc.

Noise / sound blocking / isolation works great for everything - it relies on physical barriers to reduce the SPL of all noise (though the sound reduction can be frequency- tapered).