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BA & 2 minutes silence for armistice day

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Old Nov 11, 2015, 3:50 am
  #1  
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BA & 2 minutes silence for armistice day

Sorry I am a bit late on posting this, noticed it on BA's Facebook page:

Today at 11am, we will observe a two-minute silence to commemorate Armistice Day. All planes on the ground will silence their engines and all airport staff will pause in their work. We join with many around the world by marking the 11th hour of 11th day of the 11th month, when an armistice was signed to forge peace and bring about the end of the First World War.
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Old Nov 11, 2015, 3:52 am
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Good…

I am glad the company does this.
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Old Nov 11, 2015, 3:56 am
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There has also been an announcement in the lounge on the same about 10 minutes ago to inform customers that staff will be observing the silence at 1100.
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Old Nov 11, 2015, 4:22 am
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good to see
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Old Nov 11, 2015, 4:29 am
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^

Most UK public transport providers do this and it's good to see BA doing it too.
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Old Nov 11, 2015, 4:31 am
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Was it well observed in the lounges?
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Old Nov 11, 2015, 4:34 am
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LBC Radio just observed the 2 minutes silence, albeit with 'noise' so that tuners-in would recognise LBC was still on air.

Being somewhat older than most FTers, I can remember when Remembrance Day was observed on 11 November, before it became inconvenient and Remembrance Sunday was introduced on the nearest Sunday to Remembrance Day.

In my small town, traffic and pedestrians actually stopped for the duration. Remembrance Day is still widely observed as a public holiday in France and elsewhere. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remembrance_Day

Full marks to BA (and others).
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Old Nov 11, 2015, 4:40 am
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Originally Posted by Roger
In my small town, traffic and pedestrians actually stopped for the duration. Remembrance Day is still widely observed as a public holiday in France and elsewhere. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remembrance_Day

Full marks to BA (and others).
Indeed - today is a public holiday here.

Hopefully the silence was respectfully observed at the airport today too.
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Old Nov 11, 2015, 4:41 am
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Originally Posted by mentor of monty
Was it well observed in the lounges?
I can only speak for the CCR - yes it was observed very well. The lounge fell silent, all the passengers were silent, the staff all lined up at the end of the bar nearer the terrace. The BA staff made an announcement to start the 2 minutes and at the end to finish it. One of the serving staff turned the TV over to BBC I think which had the 11 o'clock chimes from Big Ben.
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Old Nov 11, 2015, 4:46 am
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^

Good for BA for doing this.

Too easy to say it would cause too much inconvenience etc, so glad that common sense prevails.
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Old Nov 11, 2015, 4:46 am
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Thanks for reporting karfa, looks like it was well handled. Our office went silent (except one who kept on typing...) and george square (glasgow) had a relatively well attended brief 'service' plus those of us in the square looking on from the offices.

Ps missing you at lhr by a day, safe travels!
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Old Nov 11, 2015, 5:00 am
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BA check in at SIN was actually encouraging people to donate and take a poppy when I went through on 26 Oct. This quite surprised me. They were not doing the same at SYD, CPH or LHR when I checked in a those airports.

Was kind of a big deal because my poppy and I went out for a pint that evening and the barman was a Liverpudlian ex Royal Navy submarine crew-member. He at least was very impressed that BA was doing this at SIN
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Old Nov 11, 2015, 5:14 am
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It was well observed at my office in Sydney too with an announcement, the bugle being played and finally a minutes silence.

Nicely done each year.
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Old Nov 11, 2015, 5:21 am
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BA & 2 minutes silence for armistice day

I accept this as a cultural thing, but find the British poppy/remembrance obsession pretty weird. I guess nobody gets harmed in a 2 minute service delay in the CCR, but as an international airline it may be more appropriate to keep the sort of thing private.
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Old Nov 11, 2015, 5:22 am
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They do this every year.
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