Just after I settled into my upgrade seat on DL 728, ATL-SAT, last Thursday, 8-11, I was joined by my seatmate, a late 20ish female corporate type with a full complement of electronic devices. After she lit, she pulled out her cell phone, Blackberry and laptop, all legal with the door open. Not to be outdone, I whipped out my crossword puzzle book and Wall Street Deli sandwich.

The problem began to surface when by ignoring her, she forced the FA to give her a direct order to turn off the laptop, etc., following the door closing and immnient taxi. Once the FA was buckled up, seatmate fired up the Blackberry and appeared to proceed to communicate with the outside world by text messaging. This continued through taxi, takeoff and climb out. Once sufficiently airborne, she pulled out the laptop that hadn't been powered down at all , just closed. From light emitting between her fingers clamped around the cell phone, I'm pretty sure it was on as well, but stayed quiet throughout.

Landing was pretty much a repeat performance. Laptop turned off only after direct, personal instruction from the FA and Blackberry lighting the night after the FA was tucked in for landing.

What should I have done here? I thought about using the FA call button to rat her out during taxi out or on approach or reaming her out myself, but thought either one could cause drastic consequences on the ground and encounters with people who carry guns for a living. I also thought about talking to a FA away from my seat, but never imagined this would be an ongoing problem. A GM across the aisle later commented to me that he had never seen this happen before.

How dangerous were her actions? Do I recall correctly that a UA 737 went down years ago on approach to a Colorado airport for reasons possibly related to an operating CD player snafuing the navigational gizmos?

It is your responsibility to report to the FA what the FA does not see/witness - the airlines have a policy for a reason and your seatmate cannot make up their own rules. While there is some debate over Blackberry and cell phone usage vis a vis safety, that is neither the question nor the defense - the policy is the policy and that person should have been reprimanded appropriately.

If you didn't want to directly address her, you could have called the FA and, while glancing towards your seatmate, casually asked "oh, is it OK to use our Blackberries even during takeoff and landing?" in front of her, like you didn't know and were hoping to use your own. Maybe that would have shamed her into turning it off, or at least prompted the FA to say something to her.

FYI, lots and lots of discussions on this topic in Travel Buzz. I admittedly sometimes text-message my wife when the flight is in a hold while on the tarmac (the door may be closed, but the jet cannot crash if its standing still!). Btw, there is no documented evidence of any personal electronic device ever causing or even contributing to a commercial airliner crash.

Before this thread has a chance to deviate like another one on this forum did recently, the OP was asking what to do when a fellow pax disobeys the rules. There is a great difference of opinion about the use of electronic devices on planes. I think we should agree to disagree as the whether electronic devices do or do not cause flight issues and keep this thread on the topic posed by the OP. @:-)

She DOES sound a bit "overconnected". I will make the following observations:

1. Blackberries have a "Radio Off" mode. She may have had the Blackberry Radio off and just been composing messages to be sent once the radio was turned back on. Or she may have been reading saved messages. Or she may have been playing the always-exciting BrickBreaker game
2. I never actually "turn off" my Apple PowerBook. I just close the lid. When the lid on my PowerBook is closed, the machine is effectively off (about the only power being used is to cause the latch light to glow softly). In fact, I've been advised by Apple NOT to power down my PowerBook unless absoluately necessary. Of course, I have no faith in my Windoze machine's ability to do the same thing, so I'm always cycling power on it.
3. She should not have been fiddling with any electronic devices when the flight crew issued directions to not use them.

Basically though, your seatmate sounds like she was a jerk, but I wouldn't lose any sleep over it.

Not sure I agree with this advice - it seems a bit "vigilante" to me. For example, when driving on I-95 from Philadelphia to Washington, I frequently see people driving 80-90 MPH. I've never bothered to note their license plates and phone the police to advise them that someone is speeding. Similarly, I'm sure we've all noticed other rules infractions that we haven't reported.

On the other hand, if this passenger had her laptop out and was potentially blocking aisle egress during approach and landing (i.e., after the four dongs and the "final warning", I'd politely say something like "That was the final warning. You might want to put away your laptop now before the FA comes by.")

Understand the reservation (though I am pretty sure you would do something where public safety was, in your opinion, at risk?) - but the OP noted that the FA had to specifically confront the other passenger already - it appears that this was not an "unnoticed" infraction that was being reported, but, rather, a refusal to comply.

1. You can turn off the Antenna on a Blackberry for flight, but still continue to type emails or messages which are then transmitted automatically upon landing when the unit's antenna is turned back on.

2. In many instances, depending upon the settings and individual has for a Notebook, closing the lid effectively either turns the computer off or puts it in Standby, where it�s dormant anyway.

I am not sure that it�s possible to ascertain any potential violations of FAA protocol or flight safety issues at this point.

My 2 cents.

Junkie

btw for all the ppl who would have the OP assertively inform the FA about the electronic-phile neighbor... would you be willing to have the flight delayed due to the pilot having to come back to deal with the pax? Keep in mind that if the pilot has to leave the cockpit once the jet is ready for takeoff, this often results in the flight losing its "slot" and having to go to the back of the queue to wait for its new "slot".

Also, if the pax has to be removed from the flight... assume at least a 45 minute to 1 hr delay for going all the way back to the gate (assuming one is even available) and then waiting to get permission to pull back out. Be vigilant if you wish, but the gadget-girl might not be the only person on board whom you end up pissing off.

It matters not whether the Blackberry's antenna was turned off; the OP noted that the overconnected seatmate used it during taxi, takeoff and climbout, which is strictly forbidden.

Once the FA says "turn off and stow all electronic devices" there is no exemption for composing emails on a Blackberry, regardless of the antenna. Refusal to abide by this instruction is a direct violation of the FAA rules as well as failure to obey a crewmember instruction.

OK- so the lady broke the rules. If you believe your safety was in jeapordy then by all means, call the FA. But before you do that and anger countless other pax, I would do research and make sure you really feel like your safety was in jeapordy. This has been discussed at length before in other threads, but the short of it is the current cell phone rules are more likely a FCC policy (being administered by FAA) due to taxing the ground mobile communication system rather than FAA concerns about safety of the flight.

If you doubt this, next time right before take-off or landing, tell the flight attendant you left your cell phone in your bag in the overhead bin (or in your checked bag for that matter) and see if she tells you to get up and turn it off. I cannot count the number of times I have accidently left my cell phone on in my carry-on, but I can tell you the only problem it caused was a dead battery in my phone.

The biggest danger you faced was getting hit by the laptop. It is extremely unlikely that any of her electronics interfered with the aircraft navigation or communication systems.

I guarantee there are at least 10 electronic devices left on during any given full flight.

Minor technical correction - you can't turn the antenna "off" on a blackberry. EM radiation will always impinge upon the antenna (unless you place it in a shielded enclosure). As I stated earlier, you can turn the RADIO in a blackberry off, which prevents the blackberry from TRANSMITTING EM (further note for purists - yes, the blackberry, as an electronic device, will always emit some degree of EM radiation, even IF the radio is turned off).

Whoa, there. You're reading a lot more into my post than I intended. I apologize.

My post merely pointed out the rule violations to help Junkie see them; I myself, ignore these violations frequently.

I've had my cell phone ring plenty of times during taxi, takeoff, climbout, cruise, approach and landing.

Just like you, I'm under no delusion that these violations endanger the aircraft, its avionics or my fellow pax. But playing with the electronic devices IS in violation of the rules. That's all.