Is it my imagination or is the "ding' heard when someone summoins the flight attendant overly LOUD when flying on an A330?

So loud and annoying in fact, it was waking me and up and on my flight to Narita . Very annoying, can they turn the Damm thing down some?

I'm actually thinking about changing flights on my next trip so i can fly on a Boeing. Never bothered me on those.

I'd ask one of the flight attendants but they all looked old and crabby to me...best not to bother them. I sat next to a Thai Monk on the flight to Bangkok , the FA kept handing me stuff to give to him, apparently women can't touch a Monk. I looked confised when she did this so she got pissed at me. Very inappropriate , I thought, to get angry at a passenger just because he doesn't understand the cusom. Shame on her.

Actually, I don't think it's overly loud at all. I think the A330 has one of the lowest sounding DINGS out there...except for maybe the DC-9. The DC-9 might be the lowest simply because you hear so much air rushing that the DING is muted out so badly.

What I can't stand on the A330's though is the DING constantly goes off for the first 30 minutes of the flight as people bump up against it in their seat or accidentally push it while trying to figure out the AVOD remote. That drives me nuts.

-RM

The DING is pretty bad on DL's 764 IIRC. Any aircraft that has seats with the remotes installed in the side of the seat will always have a chorus of dings throughout the flight as people rub up against the remote.

I've never noticed the DING too loud on the A333. Bose QC2 headphones might help the problem.

I think its not too bad.

I feel that the most annoying thing is the automated messages on the 757. After the seatbelt goes on there's the automated message that says please go back to your seat and fasten your seatbelt. Having to hear that over and over while in flight is quite annoying.

Perhaps its not the location of the remote, but rather the size of the passenger that's the problem

I think it's your imagination - it doesn't sound any louder to me on the A330 than it does on any other aircraft.

I do find that you hear the dings more often. This is especially prevalent at the beginning of the flight, as first-time A330 flyers experiment with the remote.

I have noticed that there is variation in the ding volume on the A330s. When they first came out, the dings were very loud. Many of them now seem to have a more appropriate volume.

What's stupid is that the call button is located on the handset for the IFE -- and clueless people just start pressing buttons in an attempt to get the unit to work (especially once IFE is turned on).

I think the DING is ok on A330's. IMO the absolute worst is the CRJ ding - when close to the destination pilots do one DING as an initial descent (I'm sure there's a term for this that I don't know) and a double DING for the 10,000ft "seriously, prepare for landing!" event. Now those are loud dings!

I think it must be where you are sitting -- I've noticed the same thing as the OP, sometimes the DING is so loud it wakes me up, even with QC2s!

Interesting the various pet peeves of travelers. For me, it's the reading lights on an overnight/dark cabin flight.

To the OP, I would recommend in-ear headphones listening either to a portable music/DVD player or the supplied IFE. Even without any audio turned on, they can muffle a lot of sounds, including babies crying.

I would recommend the Shure brand of sound-isolating headphones if you're looking.

A couple years ago I experienced a super-loud ding in 10A on the A330 to AMS. Really piercing - - really made sleep difficult. It was on a new A330 that had just started service, and I did TTU about it, because it was that bad. It might have been all in my imagination-- but in any case I've been overnighting in 29A ever since.

For me, it's the guy on the other side of the cabin that leaves his window blind open on the mid-morning AMS-DTW flights...when everyone is trying to nap. Dark cabin, blinding sunlight...get a clue, guy!!!

I do concur...noise cancelling headphones or earbuds work wonders. If it weren't for those, the call button dings would drive me nuts.

Just as I have the right to recline my seat fully (except I won't during the meal service), I also have the right to open my blind on day flights. I may not open it all the way, but I will open it for some natural light. Too bright? You should bring eye shades if you want to sleep. I do.

I have the right (from god?) to be a pain in the ... to everyone else on the plane! What an idiot!

>>>>>>Just as I have the right to recline my seat fully (except I won't during the meal service)...

My most memorable experience in this regard was on a Sabena flight ORD-BRU. The seat pitch was abysmal, and the guy in front reclined immediately and kept it that way. When the FA came with the meal tray, she could not get it to me, despite trying to angle it this way and that, because there was not enough room between my head and the reclined seat, so she had to ask him to put his seat forward.


<<<<<<I also have the right to open my blind on day flights. I may not open it all the way, but I will open it for some natural light.

My most miserable experience was on Alitalia MXP-ORD. The FA's were ferocious in requring every passenger to keep their shades down till we landed, and monitored it throughout the flight. I don't like Hollywood entertainment (I prefer to distort reality in scripted, cliche'd ways with my OWN scripts and cliche's, thank you), but I do like looking at Greenland - - (not a chance)! The worst was when the movie was over, and we were all provided a graphic of a little white cartoon image of a plane passing over a cartoon representation of the St. Lawrence Seaway - - but we were not allowed to peek out the window at the actual St. Lawrence Seaway!