Dave Noble

eep - how many bus rides do you take that travel at 39,000 feet above the road :O

1010101

CX yesterday out of LHR, total silence until we were holding for the runway, then the Captain rather hurriedly comes on to apologise for being too busy to speak earlier and run through a very quick welcome. I like the announcements, especially for weather en route and an accurate-ish flying time, but its not totally uncommon for them to be forgotten/skipped.

shefgab

This still happens, sometimes it's the captain, sometimes FO. I'd say it still happens on 30-50% of flights. I guess it just depends how quickly they complete the post-arrival tasks. Also, if you travel Club a lot, you will probably be off the plane before they come out of the flight deck.

ironmouse

I remember flying LHR -IAD in July 2009 during the Ashes series. About 2 hours into the flight the Captain came on to say "To any English cricket fans on board today, I just want to let you know that England have just won the 2nd test." to which loud cheers went up all over the plane!

AllTheNines

Just my 2 cents, having operated RTM-LON as flight crew (not BA) a couple of times:

A) The crew could have been facing a number of issues on the ground that you're unaware of. Perhaps a Calculated Take Off Time (CTOT) - effectively a slot issued by Eurocontrol, meaning that they had to be airborne at a fixed time. If you call for start-up literally 1 minute too late, ATC will deny engine start and you'll go to the back of the queue (could be anything from an extra 10 minute wait, to a 2 hour wait, depending on the reason for the CTOT). So a 90 second PA could make the difference!

B) They could have been problem solving a minor technical defect, speaking to the company Ops and maintenance, again eating in to their turnaround time during which they also need to set-up for the departure, calculate take-off weights and speeds, plus brief the departure route and run appropriate check-lists.

C) If A) or B) were the case, perhaps the Captain decided to delay the PA til the taxi. But RTM is a very quiet airport and by the time you've completed your taxi checks you're already cleared to line up and take-off.

D) Airborne time can be as little as 30 minutes, and you may only reach cruising altitude for 2-3 mins before beginning descent. During that time the crew have checklists to run, gather the latest weather and arrival runway in LCY, brief the approach accordingly (LCY is more complex than your average airport), transfer to London ATC which is incredibly busy and then follow a barrage of instructions from ATC to navigate the aircraft on to the approach. With LCY, they don't have the "luxury" or a 10-15 minute holding sequence during which they could normally catch up and give you a PA, as you'd normally get going in to LHR.

E) As another posted has mentioned, the PA system could have been inoperative, depending on the aircraft concerned it may be permissible depending on other factors such as whether the flight deck and cabin crew are still able to communicate.

Or, maybe they were just being lazy ;-)

Ladyfliestheredwhiteandblues

Thanks all for the informative and thoughtful responses. The tongue in cheek ones were also appreciated!
I lean towards it just being a policy difference and nothing else really. I doubt it was a malfunctioning PA as some have suggested - perhaps those in the know will be able to say for definite but I would imagine it was essential to be functioning for emergency purposes even if the pilots are disinclined to / are instructed not to / simply don't have time to make general announcements. Does anyone know?

AllTheNines

I can say for definite that it is possible for it to malfunction and the aircraft still be allowed to fly, as per my post above. I'm not sure which aircraft Jota are using, but for example taken from my aircraft's manual:

PA System may be inoperative provided:

a) alternate normal and emergency procedures and/or operating restrictions are established and used, and
b) cabin chimes and passenger notice signs "No Smoking/Fasten Seat Belt" are operative for all occupied seats.

The checklist then goes on to say that the cabin crew must be briefed accordingly, and lists several other procedures that must be followed in the event of an emergency etc, which I won't bore you with on here.

steve170461

You should only worry when there is silence from the flight deck to ATC and you subsequently see the escort fighter in very close proximity.

IAMORGAN

clubman

Yeh, that's pretty common on American. other than that they very often make their first PA from the FD once they reach cruise level, and as they tend to keep the seatbelt signs on until that point, they'll usually say some comment about the weather being smooth so they'll switch the seatbelt signs off now etc...

As others have commented BA pilots tend to be particularly good at making announcements, and I've had some very calming announcements during bad weather which I'm sure reassured some nervous flyers.

TBH the only airline I've heard total silence from the Flight crew and on more than one occasion has been LY. Although this isn't a policy of their's as they do usually greet the passengers, just not always...

Waterhorse