I was flying ORD-BOS last week (upgrade to F on a 757). The guy next to me was yacking away on his cell phone until the door closed, then he stopped, but left the phone on. The FAs made the usual announcements about phones, and they guy ignored it. He just put the phone in the seat pocket. I said with a smile and in a respectful tone something like "You know you do have to turn that off", and he turns right into my face and yells "YEAH?". I went back to work, and in about one minute his phone rings (we are on the taxiway) and the FA is there in a shot, with a nice smile and professional attitude and asks him to turn it off. He does, and so far so good, except he's acting like a jerk sitting next to me. He was spitting mad. Then thirty minutes later, at 33,000 feet, he reaches in and turns it on again! I was appalled. He left it out for a moment while he was rummaging for a pen, and I caught the FAs eye. I didn’t say anything, but directed my gaze to the phone. She had to be much more direct with him to get him to turn it off.

Now I got a look at his boarding card, and he was a 1P. He should know better. He made the flight quite unpleasant with his hostile attitude. Anyone got suggestions for dealing with being stuck beside an air-rage incident in the making? The plane was full, so I didn’t have the opportunity to move seats. Anyway, just venting.