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Why are headphones collected in business class before the flight lands?

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Why are headphones collected in business class before the flight lands?

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Old May 3, 2019, 2:16 pm
  #1  
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Why are headphones collected in business class before the flight lands?

I've been flying a lot of Toronto -> Vancouver flights on air canada in business class....and the one strange thing ive noticed is that they collect the nice headphones like 30 minutes before the flight lands and give you crappy ear buds. how does that make sense? isnt that more of a waste?
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Old May 3, 2019, 2:21 pm
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Because they don't trust folks from YYZ not to walk off with their precious headphones?

Seriously, they aren't the only airline that collects them before landing but it is kind of annoying.

I am usually using my own gear anyway but it irritates others trying to watch the last few minutes of something.
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Old May 3, 2019, 2:27 pm
  #3  
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Originally Posted by Bohemian1
Because they don't trust folks from YYZ not to walk off with their precious headphones?

Seriously, they aren't the only airline that collects them before landing but it is kind of annoying.

I am usually using my own gear anyway but it irritates others trying to watch the last few minutes of something.
Actually they will give you small ones like in economy. They need to collect them to send them being cleaned, and the timing is supposed to match the point where you are no longer supposed to use large external headphones I believe.
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Old May 3, 2019, 2:27 pm
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Originally Posted by carzaddict
I've been flying a lot of Toronto -> Vancouver flights on air canada in business class....and the one strange thing ive noticed is that they collect the nice headphones like 30 minutes before the flight lands and give you crappy ear buds. how does that make sense? isnt that more of a waste?
Because after the flight lands and the FAs are allowed to stand the aisles are full of people trying to get their stuff together which isn't very convenient for somebody trying to collect armloads of earphones. And yes people would walk off with them in huge numbers if AC just "trusted" them to leave them at their seat before deplaning.
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Old May 3, 2019, 2:32 pm
  #5  
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the end connectors are 3-pronged....which wont even work in most devices....so even if people do steal them, they would see that it wouldnt work for them.

the probably did some study and saw that they were losing too many of them, unless this whole ploy is preemptive. United doesnt collect the headphones, they have more trust lol
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Old May 3, 2019, 2:43 pm
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AA does the same...30 minutes gives them enough time to investigate and find any missing ones, I guess...There is a post somewhere on FT, if I recall, where they held (or threatened to hold) the whole plane from deplaning until they recovered the missing ones, lol...
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Old May 3, 2019, 2:50 pm
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Originally Posted by carzaddict
the end connectors are 3-pronged....which wont even work in most devices....so even if people do steal them, they would see that it wouldnt work for them.

the probably did some study and saw that they were losing too many of them, unless this whole ploy is preemptive. United doesnt collect the headphones, they have more trust lol
Easy to get a 3 prong to 2 converter.
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Old May 3, 2019, 2:54 pm
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Originally Posted by mapleg
Easy to get a 3 prong to 2 converter.
Easier to buy way better headphones too.
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Old May 3, 2019, 3:17 pm
  #9  
 
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I think that one of the 3 prongs probably provides power for the noise cancelling function. For the amount of trouble it would be to hack and slash a solution... Buy headphones...
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Old May 3, 2019, 3:29 pm
  #10  
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Whether the headphones have value elsewhere or not is irrelevant. People irrational steal (and justify the theft to themselves) items all the time. A pity, but it's the world in which we live.

In a different era, the instruction would simply be to leave the headphones on your seat and that is where they would be.
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Old May 3, 2019, 3:53 pm
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As they are no longer hardwired to the suites, like bar supplies, they are an inventory controlled item which need to be locked and sealed prior to landing.

We try to collect them as late as possible. Headsets can't be conveniently collected & accounted for during the deplaning process and hopefully this is nothing more than a minor inconvenience.
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Old May 3, 2019, 4:37 pm
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AC are not the only ones doing this. As mentioned up thread, AA does the same. I recently flew another carrier in Asia, and they also did the same. Sorry I can't recall which airline, but it would have been one of these:. BR, LX, LH, NH or TK. UA doesn't bother.
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Old May 3, 2019, 5:00 pm
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You can buy fairly decent headphones, with a flight adaptor. Just as good.

That would keep everyone happy I guess.
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Old May 3, 2019, 5:02 pm
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Originally Posted by Giantlonglegs
You can buy fairly decent headphones, with a flight adaptor. Just as good.

That would keep everyone happy I guess.
But you don't even need the adapter on AC.
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Old May 3, 2019, 5:10 pm
  #15  
 
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I can't recall if this is still a rule on AC or whether it's still enforced. But definitely in the past, AC did not allow any type of ear phones that were not ear bud style during take off and landing, even if you were plugged into the IFE. If this is still the case, I don't see why they wouldn't collect them just before landing.
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