Many people who are aboard an airplane during an overnight flight usually attempt to catch up on some sleep. They may not want to feel sluggish during the day after the airplane lands. They may need to be as alert as possible when working at their jobs. Should people not be talking during an overnight flight to ensure that fellow passengers get some rest?
Talking During an Overnight Flight
No law exists that talking is not permitted aboard an airplane during an overnight flight, which is also colloquially known as a red-eye flight — meaning that a person has stayed awake throughout the night and has red eyes as a symptom of fatigue from not getting their sleep.
“On the HNL – DEN redeye last night”, FlyerTalk member muscae posted in this discussion pertaining to a recent experience. “In the back on an award ticket, had a nonrev directly behind me who talked the entire flight. Various flight attendants would stop by kneel in the aisle and talk, talk talk. I got to dose off a few times. Why wouldn’t they take it to a galley? Solutions? Write to 1k voice and ask them to tell nonrevs not to talk constantly on a redeye? Is noise canceling headphones my only option? Anyone had a similar experience?”
A nonrev or non-rev is short for non-revenue and is typically an employee of an airline who pays little money or no money to fly as a passenger aboard an airplane. “Buddy pass” passengers can also be considered non-revenue passengers.
Final Boarding Call
I have experienced a number of flights recently that were either very long in duration or occurred overnight. One of those flights was when I experienced 14 hours seated in a middle seat with no recline near the rear of the aircraft in the economy class cabin. Fortunately, nobody in the immediate vicinity was noisy in any way, as getting some significant sleep was already difficult for me…
…but if a person is talking loudly when fellow passengers are trying to sleep, the best call for action is simply to ask the person to lower his or her voice. That person might have problems with hearing — especially with the noise of the engines of the airplane — and may not realize that he or she is talking too loudly.
Being polite and courteous to others is usually the best way to resolve an issue…
Photograph ©2024 by Brian Cohen.
