Originally Posted by
Gamecock
Understood that from the start.
But I can walk the length of steerage without looking at someones laptop, long enough to lock in on what program they are using much less the signal strength bars on an iPhone.
Well if you're walking from the rear toward the front, it's quite easy to see the screens of people's laptops or phones that are pointed toward you. And it is generally much easier to notice something that's
not supposed to be there, like 3 bars on a cell phone when you're airborne. It only takes a split second for your eyes to capture that image, and it may take a second or two for your brain to process that image before you realize the implication of what you saw. So if OP says he wasn't purposely trying to look at others' devices, I believe him (or her).
Originally Posted by
amolkold
If FAs don't bother to put phones in airplane mode, why should pax? Everyone talks about the danger of cell phones to inflight instruments, isn't this a safety concern? Why should I MMOB on a safety issue?
TBH, not many people on FT will agree that there's a safety issue. I certainly don't, and leave my phone on all the time on a flight, sometimes without turning airplane mode on, either because I was too lazy or I simply forgot. If this happened to me, I wouldn't give it a second thought. If it bothered you, you could've said something.
If a FA asked me to turn my phone off or turn off the cellular function, I would obey because "not obeying crew member instructions" could get me in serious trouble, not because I think it's a safety issue.