How many useless phone calls can a person make?
Jan 16, 2018, 1:21 am
#31
FlyerTalk Evangelist, Ambassador, British Airways Executive Club
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BTW, it's funny how many of the people who like invading other people's space try to protect their own - like that guy yesterday had put his jacket on the seat to his right and his backpack on the seat to his left in a fairly busy lounge. Sort of paradoxical...
Jan 16, 2018, 1:21 am
#32
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: UK
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Posts: 5,228
I would sign your petition in a heartbeat !
Where pointless, overly-noisy calls are concerned “I’m in the lounge, just waiting for my flight” has seemingly superseded “Can you hear me okay ? I’m on the train”
The newer version is probably perceived by the culprits as more fashionable. Both can be equally irritating.
Jan 16, 2018, 1:38 am
#33
Join Date: May 2010
Location: UK
Posts: 5,380
Good grief, I sure hope nobody would hit you in the face!!
BTW, it's funny how many of the people who like invading other people's space try to protect their own - like that guy yesterday had put his jacket on the seat to his right and his backpack on the seat to his left in a fairly busy lounge. Sort of paradoxical...
BTW, it's funny how many of the people who like invading other people's space try to protect their own - like that guy yesterday had put his jacket on the seat to his right and his backpack on the seat to his left in a fairly busy lounge. Sort of paradoxical...
Jan 16, 2018, 1:41 am
#34
Join Date: Jan 2016
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i gave him an unhappy grin on the bbc news jingle and he stopped that a few minutes later. Regarding the persistent calls, even though they very much annoy me, I do not feel that I have any legitimate right to ask someone to not make them. It isn’t forbidden and who am I to decide that discussing Scottish weather could have waited till he was on his own.
I have no interest in imposing my own silent preferences on others which is why I specifically asked for quiet areas in lounges as a solution so that people who want to continue to use them for excited conversations or listening to something loud can continue doing so whilst the rest of us who wish for silence can benefit from specific areas where this is enforceable.
Jan 16, 2018, 2:00 am
#35
Join Date: Sep 2009
Posts: 1,106
I was in a hotel exec lounge in Penang over Christmas where an Australian couple decided to use the area as a communication centre to contact their family over a two way video conversation on their ipad.
The volume from both parties was loud and annoying and I could see the other guests rolling their eyes in disapproval.
After ten minutes, I politely asked the guy to turn his device down a little or continue the conversation elsewhere.
He went off on one ranting and shouting that I was a 'disgrace to the Australian people' (I am English - although I suspect my North East accent may have confused him), and he became quite aggressive, loud and abusive - he was in his sixties and arguably should have known better.
I just explained to him (when I managed to get a word in), that he was embarrassing himself and he was disrespecting other guests who came to the lounge for some relative peace and quiet, so I just let him carry on with his rant, however, I think he eventually got the message once his blood pressure returned to some degree of normality.
Courtesy costs nothing.
The volume from both parties was loud and annoying and I could see the other guests rolling their eyes in disapproval.
After ten minutes, I politely asked the guy to turn his device down a little or continue the conversation elsewhere.
He went off on one ranting and shouting that I was a 'disgrace to the Australian people' (I am English - although I suspect my North East accent may have confused him), and he became quite aggressive, loud and abusive - he was in his sixties and arguably should have known better.
I just explained to him (when I managed to get a word in), that he was embarrassing himself and he was disrespecting other guests who came to the lounge for some relative peace and quiet, so I just let him carry on with his rant, however, I think he eventually got the message once his blood pressure returned to some degree of normality.
Courtesy costs nothing.
Jan 16, 2018, 2:05 am
#36
Join Date: Feb 2002
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Quiet zones have never worked IME. Some train operators have them on trains and it's often still way too noisy: Someone will make a call despite there being signs saying to head to either end of the train carriage to make phone calls. Others will rustle with plastic wrappers and bags. Rather than open the bag of crisp, the meal deal or whatever it is they have that is wrapped in these rather noisy plastics, they tend to barely open them and dig around to find that last crisp. In lounges with poor acoustics, that is IMO much more annoying than a crying baby.
FWIW I want a calm place. That doesn't mean silent. Talk, call, do whatever you want as long as the noise you make doesn't dominate the whole lounge to the point where I can't talk with someone at a normal volume.
PS: The only place where quiet zones could work is probably Japan but Japan doesn't seem to have a need for it. Their normal would probably be considered a quiet zone in the UK...
FWIW I want a calm place. That doesn't mean silent. Talk, call, do whatever you want as long as the noise you make doesn't dominate the whole lounge to the point where I can't talk with someone at a normal volume.
PS: The only place where quiet zones could work is probably Japan but Japan doesn't seem to have a need for it. Their normal would probably be considered a quiet zone in the UK...
The Dutch have no problem telling someone to STFU with concise clarity and probably don't seethe silently for three days before posting an anonymous rant on a BB.
Jan 16, 2018, 2:12 am
#37
FlyerTalk Evangelist, Ambassador, British Airways Executive Club
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Jan 16, 2018, 2:35 am
#38
FlyerTalk Evangelist, Ambassador, British Airways Executive Club
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I have often felt that the BA lounges miss the mark by being neither quiet for those who want quiet, nor fun for those looking to be entertained (other than the kids zone and small movie area which ends up often being used as a sleeping zone).
I would propose that the bigger lounges at LHR get split roughly in half, with a quiet and work zone on one side and a noisy/fun zone on the other side. When you enter you get asked if you prefer quiet or entertainment and are encouraged to pick a side. Put the bar area in the noisy side, and a billiards table or perhaps some video games or something else that might make it a more enjoyable social area for those seeking that. And in the quiet zone make a more partitioned area to reduce noise and give people a bit more solitude, add some sleeping areas, etc.
I would propose that the bigger lounges at LHR get split roughly in half, with a quiet and work zone on one side and a noisy/fun zone on the other side. When you enter you get asked if you prefer quiet or entertainment and are encouraged to pick a side. Put the bar area in the noisy side, and a billiards table or perhaps some video games or something else that might make it a more enjoyable social area for those seeking that. And in the quiet zone make a more partitioned area to reduce noise and give people a bit more solitude, add some sleeping areas, etc.
I think a key of 'quiet zones' is clearly defined and entirely separate places. So for instance, it would be easy to declare the CCR terrace (and the GF terrace for that matter) quiet zones because they are entirely separate with a door between them and the rest. Enforcement is crucial because one of the typical risks when you have quiet areas is that people who want to make phone calls think that quiet areas are precisely perfect as there is no ambient noise to disturb... them! But I still think that at hub, this is doable and desirable. I mention it repeatedly on lounge surveys and can only hope that if enough people do the same at one point, BA will implement as it does not really have a cost.
Jan 16, 2018, 3:39 am
#39
Join Date: Feb 2017
Posts: 335
Whilst I respect that nobody wants to constantly overhear other peoples phone calls, I also have some sympathy for the person on the phone. For me, this is the last time to get any discussion in before quiet time on the flight - of course, what you deem as a "pointless call" is subjective.
Having said that, anyone making a phone call to "....." about somebody else is flawed in social capabilities.
Having said that, anyone making a phone call to "....." about somebody else is flawed in social capabilities.
Jan 16, 2018, 3:58 am
#40
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Northern Ireland
Programs: BA Silver, A3
Posts: 1,101
For me it's the ones using cabled earphones as they can't hear anything other than the person they are talking to. You dont hear yourself. I've occasionally had to use these for radio reports and know that my volume tends to be higher than simply talking into a phone without them.
I wonder if these are the same people who use their phones until the aircraft literally leaves the ground and, having no concept of Airplane Mode, receive a call or text as soon as they are close enough to earth to receive a signal?
I wonder if these are the same people who use their phones until the aircraft literally leaves the ground and, having no concept of Airplane Mode, receive a call or text as soon as they are close enough to earth to receive a signal?
Jan 16, 2018, 4:23 am
#41
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I am a bad person and sometimes feel sorely tempted to shout into my phone complaining about someone talking to me loudly on the phone next to me, in case the people doing so nearby gets the message. I haven't been brave enough to do that for fear that I annoy others rather than the annoying person.
Another thing I feel tempted to do is to have a sign pre-printed to say "Would you mind keeping your voice down please? Thank you very much." and stick it right in front of the noisy talkers. I haven't done that for fear of retaliation, like being hit in the face.
Another thing I feel tempted to do is to have a sign pre-printed to say "Would you mind keeping your voice down please? Thank you very much." and stick it right in front of the noisy talkers. I haven't done that for fear of retaliation, like being hit in the face.
1) If you are a bad person, then I am The Devil Wears Charity Shop
2) If anyone - and I mean anyone - hit you (rather than hit on you - or have your days for that like mine evaporated into the moisturiser?), I promise you I would make them Sorry that anyone laid a finger on My Little Sister (My own aka Rich ..... I could cheerfully throttle some days and swing for her if anyone hurt her).
3) Do not put up with rudeness, like Clap (sorry to be vulgar in front of a real lady, but you know how coarse Nurses can be) it never goes away it worsens.
Isn't it amazing how we all seem to be of one mind. Maybe our resolution should be to shut these people up.
Truth Time. A friend of mine was in a restaurant in a Holiday Inn near Chatham about 6 or 7 years ago. There was a table presided over by some American or Canadian accented woman who was busy telling the table in particular and the restaurant in general just how clever she was and it emerged who she was working for and on which contract she was working. Her voice could have warned ships of fog from the other side of the channel. The next morning he did call the company and asked for the Managing Director's Secretary. He told her one or two details of the conversation, and she was horrified. he was passed to someone else, and he said that whilst he hoped that she would not lose her job, He could have been anyone and that their business was best discussed in private rather than public places. The minions at the table were clearly terrified of her, and in no situation to quieten her down. I have warned crew with that story about broadcasting on Radio Galleyline as others. As it said in the war, careless talk...
Last edited by PUCCI GALORE; Jan 16, 2018 at 5:06 am
Jan 16, 2018, 4:26 am
#42
Join Date: Jan 2018
Location: Glasgow, UK
Programs: BA Gold
Posts: 629
A former colleague of mine was a particularly egregious offender in this regard. Several times a year, he’d finish early on a Friday to jet off on a European city break. A reason to call back to the office would then be invented where the phrase “oh I’m just waiting in the BA lounge with my wife before we fly out” would invariably be squeezed in to the conversation.
(I have no idea what his wife made of this behaviour. My own better half would relieve me of the use of my hands if they were seen with a work phone in them during a weekend away).
On the one occasion he called me, the discussion largely centred around new markets the company were considering and a potential new brand being added to the portfolio. The “airport lounge” humble-brag was then slipped in to the discussion.
To this day, I am still quite proud of my quick reaction: “Oh, Dave*, you haven’t been discussing commercially sensitive, non-public information in an airline lounge, have you?! Potentially in ear-shot of any number of people from one of our competitors?!” Never has a call ended so quickly!
The next time I saw him, he said he got the message and would be more discreet in future.
It often amazes me the sorts of conversations people are quite willing to have in airports, trains and coffee shops while on a phone. A big +1 from me on having quite areas in lounges…but I admit I’d have to think long and hard as to whether to use them, as I’m very much on the fence as to whether this is a nuisance or the in-house entertainment!
*name changed to protect the guilty
(I have no idea what his wife made of this behaviour. My own better half would relieve me of the use of my hands if they were seen with a work phone in them during a weekend away).
On the one occasion he called me, the discussion largely centred around new markets the company were considering and a potential new brand being added to the portfolio. The “airport lounge” humble-brag was then slipped in to the discussion.
To this day, I am still quite proud of my quick reaction: “Oh, Dave*, you haven’t been discussing commercially sensitive, non-public information in an airline lounge, have you?! Potentially in ear-shot of any number of people from one of our competitors?!” Never has a call ended so quickly!
The next time I saw him, he said he got the message and would be more discreet in future.
It often amazes me the sorts of conversations people are quite willing to have in airports, trains and coffee shops while on a phone. A big +1 from me on having quite areas in lounges…but I admit I’d have to think long and hard as to whether to use them, as I’m very much on the fence as to whether this is a nuisance or the in-house entertainment!
*name changed to protect the guilty
Jan 16, 2018, 4:31 am
#43
Join Date: May 2007
Location: London, UK
Programs: BA Gold, AA EXP
Posts: 1,140
I don't have a problem with people making calls in lounges or wherever, but it's not that difficult to be discreet in those situations (although many people don't seem to manage that, hence the thrust of this thread). Provided people are considerate and respectful of others then I can live with it.
The ones that particularly bug me are those that seem quite content sat in the lounge when not on a call, but the minute they're on a call they stand up and start marching back and forth across the lounge, which naturally draws more attention and is probably more distracting to others as they project their voices more.
The ones that particularly bug me are those that seem quite content sat in the lounge when not on a call, but the minute they're on a call they stand up and start marching back and forth across the lounge, which naturally draws more attention and is probably more distracting to others as they project their voices more.
Jan 16, 2018, 4:44 am
#44
Join Date: Feb 2017
Posts: 335
For me it's the ones using cabled earphones as they can't hear anything other than the person they are talking to. You dont hear yourself. I've occasionally had to use these for radio reports and know that my volume tends to be higher than simply talking into a phone without them.
I wonder if these are the same people who use their phones until the aircraft literally leaves the ground and, having no concept of Airplane Mode, receive a call or text as soon as they are close enough to earth to receive a signal?
I wonder if these are the same people who use their phones until the aircraft literally leaves the ground and, having no concept of Airplane Mode, receive a call or text as soon as they are close enough to earth to receive a signal?
Jan 16, 2018, 5:27 am
#45
Join Date: Feb 2014
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Programs: LH HON, BA GGL, AF Plat, EK Plat
Posts: 6,428
I was having a quiet breakfast at 6am in CCR Breakfast arrivals room, when an older gentlemen decided putting loudspeaker on whilst he was on hold to his car rental was appropriate. Multiple teams did I hear how valuable he is as a customer, before I stood up and told him to turn it down, politely with a please. He obliged. To his credit I don't think he saw anyone else was in the breakfast room, so can't blame him too much.