Clueless passengers. (In flight speaker VOIP call)
 

Sitting in 4A on 2559 to Detroit today. A few minutes after the 10K chime I hear what sounds like someone behind me playing a movie without headphones. A few minutes later I realize this guy is on a voip call and on speaker nonetheless! I turn around and say “”really??” and just continues with his call. I hit the call button and I just motion with my thumb to the guy behind me to her and she has him end the call immediately.

On what planet do you live on that you wouldn’t know this isn’t allowed?

I'm sure he was a very important person so the rules wouldn't apply to him.

Fly enough and you will realize just how dumb the human race has become. Some of the worst offenders can be found in the F cabins or the ACs. Its in no way specific to AA. My favorite are the F paxs that stand in the middle of the aisle during boarding or deplaning going through their belongings holding up 150+ plus people.

Especially since they just spent two hours in the lounge where they could have arranged themselves conveniently.
In fact, I think with these sorts it's the fact of inconveniencing others that appeals to them and drives their obnoxious behavior

Or the sense they can say to the world "look at me, I fly first class and you don't."

I have never really understood this either. You've been standing inside the terminal for several minutes waiting to board and then choose the most narrow, confined space to start fishing out headphones and other gadgets all the while blocking everyone else from boarding. If that's how poorly planned you run your life, I would hate to be the client of these people with no foresight.

same thing for me with people who rush onto the plane only to push their way back to the front to use the tiny little bathroom. Really???

At least there's a potentially plausible explanation for this (short connection with no time for bathroom).

The ones worse than them are those who stand up multiple times to get their stuff out of their bag. C'mon, man. Yes, I've seen them in F, many times :mad:

I am guilty of that when transiting and being sleep deprived. Never on the first flight though.

Look at the bright side: at least the wifi speed was good enough for a VoIP call.

FWIW it was AA Inflight, not GoGo.

I especially enjoy it when they are loudly discussing obviously confidential or proprietary information.

The entire issue of making business-related calls from any location where one may be overheard suggests poor operational security by the business. Any place which does not explicitly prohibit this conduct by its employees deserves to lose its clients / customers and further puts itself at real legal liability risk in the event of a data breach or loss of trade secret information.

There are very few people who have jobs so sensitive that they cannot be out of touch by voice comms for a few hours and those very few people generally fly private aircraft with secure comms for that reason.

It is a sign of poor organization, self-importance and poor client / customer service.

Must be the guy who did the same thing in the LGA Admirals Club a few months ago.

No one is that important to have to make a call during flight
If its that urgent, then take a later flight


Not related, but I use to enjoy taking the trains in India, because it offers great views of the country side
stopped after I found most of the passengers on the train (6.00am ) departure on their phones for the entire journey, and I mean entire journey

I've seen a lot of business people (mostly going between DFW and ORD) do speaker phone calls while waiting to board.

I like to walk over and make it obvious that I'm listening in. Most of the time they will walk away or fish out their headphones.

Almost as annoying as people who walk the wrong way in terminals (we drive on the right and most people know to walk that way too) or who walk slowly on the left and get in folks ways that have tight connections.

How did you hear the guy through your noise-canceling headphones that you put on immediately upon boarding?
Wait - everyone doesn't do that?

Pretty clear he meant it reduces his enjoyment (as in, "I used to enjoy..."), but you know that.

Unless the wifi providers block the network ports used for various VOIP services (Skype, WhatsApp, FaceTime, etc.), we can expect to see more of this as the high speed internet services become more common.

I admit I've done a VOIP call or two using Apple FaceTime Audio, but I stepped into the galley and was very discrete. The FA looked at me weird and went about her business...

As long as you don't do it continuously...sorry, bad joke.

I also love the ones who use the speaker phone while onboard during the boarding process. And, of course, the guy who watches videos or listens to music on his phone/computer without headphones. Like the plane environment isn't loud enough. Yup, usually in F.

I'd rather they stop and fish out headphones, rather than play whatever they are going to play without them. Parents seem to be offenders on this, allowing their children to watch videos and play games without headphones. Additionally, often passengers think we want to listen to their music. Why do FA's ignore these people, and let them do this? The rules are straightforward. If you are going to play any audio, AA requires earphones.

I've started carrying around the free headphones they hand out on planes and handing them to these people.

There have been two incidents to date where I've made detailed notes of the confidential information brayed by some self-important yahoo - and placed a call to a very senior in the company they so-loudly identified, describing the person and reciting the notes I'd made. This has been received with thanks.

I don't charge for the service.

My personal favorite was the mom who felt the need to call her son's orthodontist on speakerphone during boarding. Including details of his treatment.

I dont know that.

I dont know what a 10k chime is either.

A while back, after hearing entirely too much proprietary information in airports, I printed up little cards that said:
I CAN HEAR YOUR ENTIRE CALL.
YOU DON'T KNOW WHO I AM.
YOU DON'T KNOW WHERE I WORK.
YOU DON'T KNOW WHO I KNOW.
ARE YOU SURE YOU WANT ME TO HEAR THIS CALL?
It worked like a charm, mostly. Though I wish I'd gone the extra mile like you have for the one or two who tossed it on the floor and continued sharing their business with me.

A little over the top, no?

Actually if you know the competitor you should make a fake call like you work for the competitor. Hi Jane, its Bill. My seatmate works for ABC and he told the entire plane they are pursuing XYC for new business so call sales immediately and get them on the phone. See if we can offer them a lower price.

At 10K, there is an electronic 'ding".. This is when WIFI is supposed to be available.
It is the same "chime" you hear when you are permitted to get out of your seat after landing when the plane is parked at the gate

That's just silly. Who are you to judge the relative importance of either the person or the topic of the call?

Frankly, if it's done discreetly (i.e., no louder than an acceptable conversation level between two seatmates), who cares?

No. I have a friend who is in the consulting business. Many years ago (before cell phones) he was flying out to do a sales presentation to a prospective client. He was in an aisle seat. In the next row forward, in the opposite aisle seat, there was his only competitor for the business, reviewing his presentation and the terms on his laptop. My friend knew exactly what his competitor was going to propose before he went in.

It is not a message saying please do not do it. Instead, Netflx is blocked. They should so the same with calls, if possible.