I can't get over how many announcements are made on UA flights by microphone-hyper crew members. Recently I counted 8 pre-departure announcements on my Dubai to IAD flight. In addition, the announcements in English were repeated in Arabic. I mean, how many times should we be alerted that this is the flight to IAD and to get out of the aisles quickly, etc.? Are passengers so thick that they need to constantly be reminded where they are headed and to take their seats on an airplane?

After the mind-numbing pre-departure announcements came the in-flight announcements about seat belts, bathroom use, duty free, meals, seat belts again, customs forms, the weather, the window shades, the name of the purser, the pilots' hobbies and anything else that can disturb the peace of passengers on a 1 AM departure. After the umpteenth obnoxious announcement, the purser made one more announcement: "I will stop making announcements to let you sleep now[!]"

I compare the slew of announcements to the few and actually important announcements made on foreign carriers--I haven't heard of too many passengers on the wrong flight or forgetting to sit down on the foreign airlines.