skywardhunter

Flight mode on phones is a whole different topic but totally overrated. I'm a private pilot and my instructors and I fly with our phones on normally they don't interfere with any instruments or navigation systems, very very rarely you hear the "dit dit dit" in the headset from the itnerfeinterand if that occurs then we switch to flight mode. Not wearing a seat belt is a much more serious infraction

Maestro Ramen

Sad coincidence, saw a very similar scene on a flybe to Manchester just an hour ago. Little girl (3?) with belt strapped so loose it's useless stood on her knees looking out the window for touchdown. Mum wasn't on phone, simply completely fine with it... thought of saying something then decided against it.

icegirl

Not just the Arabs but Indians also. I remember once being on a QR flight to India when passengers started walking up the isle as soon as the aircraft had touched down and still on the runway. Then there was a trip report (I think on OMAAT) where passengers in business class on an AI flight had reclined into bed mode and gone to sleep while taxing for take off.

TheOldMan

Gynob001

Bad parents.
1. Daily hundreds of thousand of children travel around the world. I would guess, a substantial number of children misbehave (tantrums, kicking the seat, standing up, poking the overhead light switches etc). I don't consider crying as bad behavior (you can't blame a hungry or hurting or otherwise uncomfortable child for crying). In most cases, parents are to blame.
2. Early morning or very late night flights put children in discomfort. Lack of sleep, having dragged out of bed to catch an early flight or disrupting sleep is a problem.
3. Lack of respect for property (airlines's), parents themselves disobeying the laws, ignorance, plain uncouth behavior problems. I have seen adults taking airline property with them-they were not just from any poor or third world country.. Passengers standing up before the plane lands is a major problem for non-US airlines. I have seen this across the board, not just from one particular country. People from many countries don't have any concept of safety or the laws.
5. Airline industry ignores children-I don't know what percent of passengers are children. Other than a TV cartoon on the screen on longer flights, there is very little for children to do. High sugar beverages that parents force on their kids add to hyper activity.
6. Civic sense and respect for others' property, adjusting to a confined space, behavior in an adult dominated environment etc should be taught both in schools as well as by parents.
7. When I was a kid (even as an adult), I was in awe with pilots and the crew. A little bit of interaction of FA/Pilot with kids go a long way. I have noted that kids who were given plastic airline wings bring a smile from parents as well as kids.

FlyerTalker7654

Message to the Op; do yourself a favour and don't be taking pictures in a public arena like that, especially of kids. Clearly you had specific intentions and reasons to do so, however, someone else might not have known this and as a result, the situation could have blown out of all proportion. The last thing you want to be accused of is being a nonce.

You may not agree with the situation, you might not like the situation. Don't try to Police the situation.

HIDDY

I personally wouldn't get all worked up about it....the mobile users would annoy me more to be honest.

Then again on a daily basis here I see a mother and child or three riding pillion on a motor bike all without crash helmets. That isn't what annoys me though it's the fact that the police do sod all about it.

dougzz

To be clear I didn't turn on anyone, quickly or otherwise. I think the whole phone thing is rubbish, but it's the rule. If someone says "very shortly after I turned it on" I'm going to assume it was previously off. Phones in flight mode have working cameras, they don't require a network connection for the camera to function.

Personally as said above, I'd be more concerned about someone taking pictures of other peoples kids.

krispy84

snaxmuppet

Not only bad parenting but bad adulting also. Clearly that person has no concern for the safety of the child or anything else for that matter... except what is on her phone and that should have been off or in Flight Mode for landing. Makes me so angry I could slam the phone down (!).

denhaagflyer

A year ago, on short-haul BA flight I was in front seat second cabin 767, aisle seat in middle 3. Gentleman next to me kept on working on his laptop during descent. Cabin crew did not say anything during final check. I asked him to please turn it off and put it away. He ignored me so I got up (as cabin crew was already seated) and walked into galley to alert cabin crew (who first got really upset with me for having got up until I told him what was wrong). I was really upset as with hard landing or braking laptop might have flown off and hit either him or some other passenger (including me). I did talk to captain on my way out and made it clear that this was completely unacceptable (one of the benefits of BA is that captain typically stands in cockpit door during deplaning, which allows to flag these issues), Captain agreed and promised to talk to cabin crew in question. I was considering reporting incident to BA, but was reassured by response of captain!

The_Bouncer

I actually hadn't thought of this, but you're right. Especially if you are male, actions (however innocent) can be so easily misconstrued. This is also a very easy, convenient and effective arrow for a parent to sling in any dispute, even if it is 100% clear that there is no nefarious intent.

Unfortunately, in situations like this, the only sensible thing to do is just turn the other cheek. The parent's behaviour is not going to improve with your intervention, however well meaning, and you risk getting yourself involved in a very nasty confrontation.

Sad, but true.

krispy84

Lehava

Btw find it really interesting there are multiple criticisms on the mom. Is the dad not the one sitting next to the kid? And from the posture turned towards kid/window even thought phone is out?

Fontana

On the subject of mobile phones, whilst the minority of people will have their phones on "flight mode", a lot of people don't! How many times have you heard dings/alerts go off when the plane is on approach?