Use of Kindle on BA
 

As this is hopefully the only serious thread I'll make on this forum I'd like to start by reminding you of a couple of things.

"Please turn off your electrical items during take off and landing"

"To fly to serve"

I travelled today on the delayed LGW-JER flight in CE.

While we were grounded waiting for the go ahead I was using my Kindle.

Before take off the purser asked me to switch off the device which I complied with, turning it into standby mode.

He then queried this as he clearly thought I hadn't switched it off properly. I told him it was as switched off as it could be and he wandered off grumbling about checking on that.

A few minutes after take off I turned my Kindle back on and continued reading until about ten minutes before landing when his female cabin crew member told me to switch it off.

After she left I switched it back on in order to finish the chapter I had been reading (now I know I shouldn't have...but it would only have taken a minute or so..)

The purser came to my seat and said "You are really taking the piss now"

I told him not to speak to me in that manner and he proceeded to lecture me on the use of electrical devices by which time I was fuming and turned away to look out of the window.

Of course I complied with their request for the rest of the flight.

But here is the rub for me...although I had been abused by the cabin crew already, on leaving the plane the female cabin crew member was saying "Goodbye" to all the passengers and I chose to ignore this as I didn't want to get into an argument angry as I was she added "Or not" as I passed down the stairs.

There was no need for such incendiary nonsense and quite frankly the attitude of this crew was appalling.

So can someone please tell me what BA's policy is regarding the use of Kindle's onboard is because I've never had a problem using one before with any other airline. Oh and yes I have the 3G function switched off during flight.

So, before this turns into the Sunday night bunfight can I just ask everyone to abide by the Flyertalk Rules.

http://www.flyertalk.com/help/rules.php

Discuss the point and not the person please.

Swanhunter
Moderator, BAEC

My 2 pennies worth

* You shouldn't have been talked to that way
* You should have complied with the crews instructions

By all means write in about the first point, I suspect the crew may well have written you up on point 2.

I don't get the logic of having to turn off electrical devices. I understand that if they transmit/receive a signal it may matter but a kindle with its wifi disabled is harmless. Someone once suggested on here that putting away electrical devices was about safety as, in a crash, they could fly around and injure people. I get that but a kindle is no more harmful in that capacity than a book.

I tried to explain that to the purser but he wasn't listening.

You were asked to turn the Kindle off but chose to turn it on again, that's wrong. :td:

I know zero about the ins and outs of banking, building, etc so would never pretend to tell somebody in that industry how to do their job.

Sadly, many passengers feel they know the airline industry far better than those who work in it every day. So, unfortunately, many passengers prefer to make their own rules be it on board or on the ground. Oh well.

As for what the Purser said I wasn't there so I'll refrain from comment.

I must agree that the petulant and profane language is unprofessional. However, a professional response to a passenger repeatedly ignoring crew instructions might have caused you greater inconvenience... so perhaps you should be grateful that the crew had this casual attitude.

The purser is following the CAA guidelines which legally require cabin crew to ensure all non-approved electrical devices are turned off. It is his job to enforce that, not grant exceptions.

I don't think cabin crew have the time to go around the cabin checking what mode every electrical device is in.

Just switch them off when asked. Put them away and leave them off!

Crew asks, I turn off. I do seem to be in the minority though - people do appear to think that closing the sleeve on their iPad, or putting their phone in a bag counts as turning it off. I suspect that it's a load of old guff, as I would be astonished if every plane doesn't have a small number of people who not only have not turned their devices off, but have left wifi, and/or phone signal turned on - and planes don't appear to be falling out of the sky. It actually hacks me off quite a lot though - no chapter, film etc. is that important. No person either incidentally.
That said, while sharing the crews's frustration with the OP, they shouldn't have been using the language or attitude that they did.

You don't need to get the logic. You just need to follow the rule. JFDI.

Maybe the rule needs to be updated to account for newer technology, but the line gets grey with electrical devices. Maybe a kindle is really harmless, but what about an iPad in Airplane mode? Do the crew then need to check what you have enabled? Just saying no to all electrical devices as the CAA regulations say is what's currently been decided on.

I am always amazed by the whole "electronics" thing. There has never been a proven incident of interfering with flight systems by an iPod, reader or similar device.

That said the Kindle really has them stumped. Assuming that the wireless function is off which is 98% of the time the only time the device uses any power is to paint the screen when the page is "turned". Hardly a threat to anything. More the anything else it is just another assinine rule that the sheeple are supposed to follow. After all it is for our safety...or so they would have us think.

I have flown many times with my cell phone on, accidently. Even left my laptop in sleep mode once. These are not done on purpose really, however we allways have managed to make it to our destination unharmed.

Things that make you go hmmmmm.

I've been meaning to ask about this. You don't really "turn off" a Kindle - there's only temporarily a charge when it's loading a new page. Just showing a page does not mean it is "on".

What is the consensus about ebooks? I tend to just close the cover when landing as a gesture of goodwill, but it doesn't actually change its electric activity compared to when I'm looking at it.

As to the OP's example, you can expect a stern talking to if you're ignoring the cabin crew's requests (which is against your terms of carriage and possibly illegal), but any crew using the term "taking the piss" when dealing with a passenger is likely both in need of an attitude improvement and some basic customer service training.

+1. Quite simple in my eyes.

You disobeyed the rules and a more pedantic crew member would have been within their rights to report you for disobeying the instructions regarding electronic items and had you met when you landed.

However, there was no need for them to speak to you as they did - a complete lack of professionalism. There is the chance the crew at the door thought you were being rude for ignoring her, hence what she said, but she still shouldn't have.

I agree with others (i) you should have complied with the cabin crew's request and it shouldn't got to the stage that it did (ii) nevertheless, the response from crew was unprofessional.

You can't choose which rules to comply with and to what degree.

This doesn't mean the customer is always right, that the customer can get their own way regardless or that BA must always do what the customer wants.