AA needs a rule requiring head phones...
 

I'm growing tired of having to be the person to ask other passengers to have some courtesy when using their electronics. Pre-COVID this would happen occasionally but this year, since there is a different passenger mix, I have had to do this on almost every flight.

I think the FA's should be policing this. One day, a cranky passenger that is trying to sleep is going to snap and do something extreme because some other passengers are rude and have no respect for others.

I think it's already against the rules to play audio without headphones on board. Or maybe that's a Delta rule I'm thinking of.

This is a lapse in courtesy that seems to happen everywhere nowadays.

Though I share your distaste for this particular habit (which, quite frankly, occurs across regardless of "passenger mix"), the FAs have enough to police. Give them too many things to dragon and they'll stop policing anything at all. They've already grown weary of mask policing, and I can't remember the last time I was actually woken up to bring my seat upright on a domestic widebody redeye.

Plus, at the end of the day, you can't police people into being kind.

Eh then allow the passengers to do it. I was always that guy at the movie theatre staring cold (backwards) at somebody when they got TOO out of line.

Lucky you on not getting woke, just last week I was wakened in MCE to bring my chair out of a recline when it truly was already, 100 percent, and she was so adamant. It wasn't even broken or 90 percent, it was up damnit, lol.

It's already against the rules.

I was just on a flight to Barbados last Saturday with a family of 6 occupying 4 seats in F (2 lap children) across the isle. One of the kids was having a temper tantrum (for about the 50th time) and dad put a video player in the seat back and put the volume at about 11 (sorry for the Spinal Tap reference) so the kid would behave.

Took all of about 30 seconds for the FA to come back and let them know about the ear bud policy. They were NOT happy about it.

Interesting. The last FA I engaged on the issue basically said there is no rule so talking to passengers about it is not her job.

Some FAs are only "here for our safety".

I was in 1D a month ago and they rolled the economy cabin forward and the guy that got 1F was playing rap music loudly without earphones for awhile during taxi. Not good. But at least it stopped in flight.

They should not. Rule or no rule - selfish people will still do that. There is no point.

A good example is the mask requirement, which some people still ignore and get themselves kicked and banned.

Why the hyperspecific reference? Are you talking about F being allowed to lie flat for landing? Are you woken up on domestic narrowbodies and international widebodies?

Also, how are you tabulating this? Sounds like you're recalling cases where you woke up reclined, close to landing, and inferred that you were already below 10,000 feet (presumably by the short remaining descent, lack of an announcement/chime, and/or FAs already being buckled in). How many of those cases have actually occurred in your domestic widebody redeye flights -- i.e., what's your sample size?

:confused: Kicking people off and banning them is "policing". Are you saying don't enforce masks at all?

That's my point - even you have FAs policing, people still do stupid things. Do you really believe that starting policing the "headphone" will resolve the problem?

Agree with the OP if they don't have a rule about this, then they should. I'm relatively certain they do have a policy requiring headphones for audio onboard the aircraft though.

1. I do think that most people obey personally directed FA orders most of the time, so it at least cuts down the problem.
2. Regarding masks, you say "people still do stupid things" but isn't it a lot fewer than if FAs didn't police? Mask compliance rates are very high. It sounds like maybe you're using "FA policing" to refer to asking/cajoling that isn't backed up by real consequences. But refusal to wear a mask does result in real consequences to the pax as you noted, hence my confusion. Indeed, in principle, disobeying any valid FA order (for rules filed by the airline with the FAA) can result in actual police/legal consequences, and even short of that, FAs and pilots have wide discretion to remove uncooperative pax from the current flight. And the knowledge that this can happen incentivizes many more pax to comply with rules.