Originally Posted by
ThatT1Feeling
Had one of these yesterday evening - I think I have had 3 or 4 over the years and previously the cabin crew has gone row to row asking passengers to ensure their phones were switched off.
Last night, the captain made the announcement once, but there was no follow-up from the cabin crew and most people around me kept their phones on, some also not on flight mode as the message pings started coming in a couple of minutes before we landed. This could be that many people tune out for announcements, many had headphones on, many had English as a second language (or no English at all). I don't think people were ignoring the announcement on purpose.
So, my question is, does this matter any more? Surely if the captain requests all phones off, it's for a good reason - or is it like flight mode - where it's a required announcement but doesn't really matter?
Any insight welcome. Clearly we landed OK in the end
In short, no. It's an out of date policy given the vast levels of testing and shielding that goes into the manufacturing and testing of those elements of equipment that in the past might have been susceptible to RF interference. But as no-one has categorically come out to offer 100% assurance, the policy remains. we say it as we are required to. We will still all have a powered on IPAD in the flight deck, two minimum but up to 4 might be in there.
We currently have a potential issue with 5g in the US in and around airfields but even that doest look to be an issue at all in practice, yet lots of words written and policies with 'acceptable means of compliance' notes that just confirm the bleeding' obvious of actions to take in the unlikely event something does behave as expected.
In short, expect the announcement but don't be alarmed at the lack of excitement over the content.