Originally Posted by
zdcatc12
Just got off of 2686 from PHL-DTW, 717, sitting in the exit row 17A. Person in 17B was already in seat when I boarded, I'm Silver. Taxied out, the whole time he was working on his laptop, opened up, on his lap.
As we turn onto the runway, he is still working away on his laptop. I said, "we are on the runway now, could you please put that away?" He said, "They didn't make an announcement to put it away." I said it's the rules and it's common sense. Then he closed it and left it on his lap. I asked him to put it away, he said he'll leave it on his lap. I said I don't want it go flying if anything happens. He left it on his lap and I gave up.
Did I go overboard on this? We ended up 45 minutes late, if he had a connection, I hope he missed it.
You sound like someone who worries about the wrong things and accomplished nothing. This whole story is a great example of that.
You were concerned about the laptop and wasted energy trying to order the guy to put it away, but the flight took off and landed successfully so the risk you were trying to manage never manifested. Further he didn’t put the laptop away, so what did you accomplish? You should have either ignored it or asked to be seated elsewhere. The latter would have accomplished something.