On both my United flights yesterday, I noticed that some time after take-off, the No Smoking light and chime went on and off 4 times in rapid succession.

On my first flight there were 2 pilots sitting across the aisle from me, and when they heard this, they looked at each other and started laughing. I thought it was some inside joke or something.

On my next flight however, the same thing occured. This time I asked the FA if that meant anything. She said yes, it meant that they were passing 18,000 feet and that the code used to be one chime for 14,000 feet, but it had just changed to 4 for 18,000.

I asked if this change had anything to do with new security issues, and she didn't know.

Anybody out there notice this on other airlines, or is it just United? Or does anyone have any info as to why the switch?

BTW, this must have been instituted just this last weekend, because this did not happen on my flight up through Friday.


[This message has been edited by PremEx (edited 09-25-2001).]