The OP's first post said nothing about four hours, casual vs. non-casual conversation (who cares what kind of conversation it was anyway, as long as they were not yelling?), or a "night flight" (which, by the way, is not the same thing as an evening flight--which this one apparently was).

Get earplugs.

it's pretty annoying, but that's what noise cancelling headphones are for =D

I hate it as much as the next guy, I love my peace and quiet, but really?

It's public transportation, not church or a library, you can't demand that every passenger conform to what you think are the ideal cabin conditions. They werent yelling, and were well within their rights. You would have been WAY out of line by telling them to be quiet.

I love my peace and quite, I don't like to listen to others converstations, but that's what my noise cancelling headphones or Sures earbuds are for. Of course, I feel this way because I almost always travel alone, if I were traveling with a companion, I may want to talk to them. I feel this would be well within my rights and not inconsiderate at all.

If you really want peace and quiet, charter your own flight.

I'm the guy that wears the shures and reads a book.

i am pretty inconsiderate, but i know i cannot shut up the bubble heads, and the screaming kids. the ride on the train was enough.

headphones do not work. good isolation ear buds do. hope you can afford them, and tolerate them in your ears.

to quote the sage of the 20th c. michael nesbit while selling a neighbor nuclear deterent, "it is a well known fact, neighbors are no damned good"

Gotta roll with it. Situations's out of your control so don't let it bother you. +1 on the suggestions for noise cancelling headphones.

I commute daily on NJ Transit trains to midtown Manhattan. I've noticed that the early morning trains are very quiet. Everyone's reading a paper, book, listening to iPod, or whatever. If someone gets on and starts gabbing, it will generate a lot of dirty looks. Some people may even get up and change their seat. On the way home, it's a different story and people are generally more verbal.

Either way, life's too short.

You are right. Politeness is all about the being aware of the feelings and preferences of others. People have the RIGHT to chat away for hours on end in the confined cabin space of an airplane. Unfortunately, people not a party to the conversion have no natural ability to close their ears. The chatterboxes should show some self-restraint. However, it is also rude to demand that others refrain from exercising their rights. So in this age of ill manners, the best solution is probably the headphones

It might be slightly rude, but you really don't have any right to ask them to be quiet. It's an airplane, not a kindergarten class.

Members: to keep the thread open, we need to discuss this without undue personalization of our members. As the FlyerTalk Rules tell us: "If you disagree with another member, challenge the opinion or idea - not the person." Post(s) which strayed from this rule have been edited or deleted. Ocn Vw 1K, Moderator.

I don't think it is rude for them to have a conversation. I have been in Japan a lot too and people talk on the train, shinkansen and local trains. People talk in the elevator in Japan too.

I always travel alone and one time an older lady told a girl one row in front of her to be quiet. This was on a 12 hour all day(no night) flight from YYZ to NRT. I thought the older lady was kind of rude. Who did she think she was? She doesn't own the plane, and the volume at which the people in front of us was not by any stretch of the imagination loud or annoying.

When a baby cries.. that is annoying. But no one ask the baby to stop crying.

I don't like other people talking when I can hear it, and it is constant. I consider it rude, because unless you are in a A380 cabin (which has virtually no engine noise in my opinion), you generally shouldn't be able to hear the conversation of two people seated adjacent to one another who are talking only to one another.

What you relate happens to me a couple of times a year, and I think it's mostly that some people don't have any idea that their voice is too loud for a sit-down environment. However, sometimes it's people with an overinflated ego who want everyone to hear what they have to say.

Anyway, FWIW, I think if you are in a public setting (like a train, club, airplane cabin, etc), and there are people around you who you do not know, you should probably learn to speak in a lower voice when talking to someone seated right next to you.

Agreed. You are in a confined space with many other people, best to live and let live rather than working yourself up over it.

Or even just comparatively inexpensive in the ear phones (not earbuds). After one flight where I spent 3 hours in front of guy trying to convert another into his brand of religion, I never leave home without them and my Ipod.

i came to this thread thinking about my second trans-atlantic flight, where i was sitting next to an army guy who was just shipping out to germany. he talked nearly non-stop - to me!

drove me crazy. he didn't get the hint, even when i visibly put my earphones on and played my walkman.

Poor guy, bet he was apprehensive about his posting. But insensitivity to others can be hazardous. Hope he develops better "radar" in combat, if that's where he was going.

I get irritated when people with carrying voices hold dense conversations within earshot in the plane. But the only time I ever said anything was to the guy with a radio announcer voice who drank too much coffee on a TATL red-eye. The seating was such that I really could have slept, except for my seat being jiggled and the voice that NC Shures couldn't block out. He was very nice but he wouldn't stop talking. So what can ya do?

If you can't deal with people talking on a flight, perhaps you should look into NetJets or other, similar, service.