No headphones of any type allowed in the UK I'm afraid on take off and landing. They are very strict about it. Your ability to take instructions from the crew in case of an emergency might be impaired is the reason, I imagine.

As the discussion has gotten away from UA and into domestic and international policies generally, please follow the thread to the TravelBuzz forum. Ocn Vw 1K, Moderator, United and TravelBuzz.

:rolleyes: The display is electrophoretic, not "magnetic", however you are correct that the display is bistable and the display draws no power when not being updated. However if the MP is running it could cause EMI. Best to turn it off.

The rule is "fully off". So, no they weren't powertripping, I got grief from a CO FA about that too 2 years ago on TLV-EWR.

Just put it in Standby before they come by and whine about it and you'll be OK. The rule is dumb. Just like the rule about fully off for iphones/bbs. As long as they're in airplane mode, its all the same.

Why do you think that FAs would not know the difference? They have computers, too. They know how computers work. FAs are a bright, intelligent group of people, and I have a lot of respect for them.

The rule is "POWERED OFF". I don't care if you think the rule is dumb; it's the rule. The snooty DYKWIA types are the ones who think the rules don't apply to them, and that their need for electronics supersedes everyone else's need for safety.

I had the FAs tell me several times about NC headsets, even when I had them turned off during take-off. I relented and don't use them until cruise altitude now.
The people that refuse to turn off the laptops or cell phones but the heck out of me. I see guys try to hide their laptops when the FA does the final aisle check before takeoff and they whip them out to get one or two e-mails done. I sat next to an idiot with two blackberries on my last flight that never did turn them off and kept trying to get e-mail on them during take off, throughout the flight, and during landing.
Why are some people so stupid? The rules don't cover them? I wanted to slap him.

The situation with electronics on planes reminds me of trivial little middle school student handbook rules -- there were annoying kids who flaunted the rules To Be Different, annoying kids who proudly complied with the rules To Protect School Safety, annoying instructors who enforced the rules To The Letter (in retrospect, maybe they just needed an excuse to maintain discipline in the classroom), and a vast majority of consumers who barely noticed anything was going on and who forgot entirely about the pointlessness of the system as soon as it stopped affecting them.

With a system like that, there's absolutely no incentive for the frivolous rules to go away, and I doubt they ever will.

The Code of Federal Regulations, including the FAA rules (which used to be called FARs) do not specify that you have to turn "completely off", it is up to the airlines themselves to set these rules, and the pilots/crew (typically for Part 91) to ensure that no device which may cause electronic interference does so during operation of the aircraft. Many of the ways airlines 'enforce' these rules are arbitrary and useless.

That being said, there is one area most folks don't realize there is something vital about all that theatre and b.s. the FAs come up with - your attention span. During taxi to takeoff, and landing, are the most critical times for plane operations with the highest potential for incidents (like bumping into another airplane, etc.). The crew is responsible for making sure you are safe, and for giving you instructions in the event of an incident. Thankfully they are so rare none of us common travelers think about it, but some crafty planners have.

The easiest way to get and keep your attention is to reduce distractions like phones, laptops and other items.

Of course there is the other aspect of laptops, that they are heavy, sometimes metal cased, and not tethered to your body. If the plane were to stop suddenly, such as by accidentally bumping into the ditch on the side of a taxiway many laptops would go flying if they were out and on the laps of busy travelers. Forcing you to turn it off would I suppose make it far less likely you to surreptitiously pull it back out when the FA returns to his/her seat to strap in for their own safety...

It's a no-win situation for the FA's. If another passenger saw the FA letting someone put his/her laptop into standby instead of full shut-down, there will probably be a new thread here called "FA didn't enforce FAA rules by making passengers do full shut-down of laptop computer" :D :D

To the people saying that the FA was just doing his job, I would like to explain that I was not feeling entitled or something like that. Putting the computer into standby seemed to be enough until yesterday, I was wondering if there has been a change in policy. If the answer is that the FA was diligently enforcing policy, that is good enough for me.

And another thing...in UK on BA we are never told we have to turn everything OFF, just that if the device has a flight safe mode, it should be enabled prior to departure, and any device that sends or receives calls or data (such as bluetooth, texts, wifi etc) should be switched off unless it is in flight-safe mode. It is irritating when some jokers like to leave their blackberries on silent. One day I will say something!

I have a problem with that type of thinking and believe it achieves the opposite effect to what is intended. By trying to achieve a (desirable)secondary result from a questionable instruction you just end up with a lot of people who think "that doesn't make sense - I'll ignore it as far as I can get away with it".

The inconsistency between airlines doesn't help either. On BA no headphones during take-off & landing but phones in flight-safe mode is fine. Exactly the reverse on other airlines. Among people who travel a lot some are bound to think "if it really were a risk, it would be a universal rule - so no harm in ignoring it".

I would consider him not allowing you to shut down the computer gracefully a "powertrip". Was he going to call the police when you landed if you didn't hard shut down? :)

First of all, why did you rolleyes at me?
Second, what's the "MP"?

Thanks.

He was not, but I had read the story about the iPad and the no-fly list and I was not going to take any chances :D