Imagine you and your colleague are seated in the premium class cabin on a flight which departed at approximately 10:30 in the evening — but was not a “red-eye” flight — and you are both engaged in a conversation with each other when a uniformed pilot sitting in a seat adjacent to you repeatedly tells you to shut up.
Was Pilot Justified for Demanding Conversing Passengers to Shut Up?
At the conclusion of the boarding process, a pilot in full uniform sat in one of the multiple empty seats adjacent to FlyerTalk member brewdog11 — who recalled the incident — and a colleague. “As we were both awake and still had a journey ahead of us upon arrival, my colleague and I opted to stay up and politely converse. As the service began shortly after takeoff, my colleague noted a quiet ‘shut up’ muttered several times. It was quiet enough, but we could make out what it was. This quiet muttering escalated and eventually became profane, with F-bombs and the like thrown in. It got gradually louder too, although it never reached the volume of typical conversational speech. Refusing to be intimidated by another passenger (let alone an employee traveling in uniform), we continued our conversation. The muttering continued as a near-constant barrage: ‘shut up, shut up, SHUT UP, mother****ers, shut the F*** up…’ It was very clear what he was saying and that this was directed toward us. We were both in shock that someone would display this sort of behavior — flights have been diverted for much less. Additionally, I honestly do not believe that we were being unreasonably loud. Alcohol was not involved, and no one else in the cabin seemed to be bothered by us at all.”
Summary
I rarely get annoyed when fellow passengers decide to have a conversation, as I believe that they have the right to do so if they choose. Of course, discretion may be exercised when other passengers are attempting to sleep in a dark cabin.
Because only one side of the story is being told, we really do not know whether brewdog11 and the colleague were actually engaged in a quiet and polite conversation — which can be rather subjective. We do not know if anything offensive was said during that conversation. We do not know what type of day the pilot had experienced — but does that really justify the alleged outburst?
At this time, not enough information may have been revealed — but this experience does bring up some interesting questions: when is a good time to have a conversation with a passenger in a neighboring seat; and when should passengers remain silent? What rights does a person have in shutting down a conversation between two other fellow passengers in order to get some rest — or at least be less annoyed and angry? Did the pilot have a right to confront the passengers as he allegedly did? Is he even fit to be a commercial airline pilot if he is that quick to get annoyed and angered at something which can arguably be considered minor at best? Other passengers would be advised to involve a flight attendant to resolve the issue — so why not the pilot? Should the pilot have know better before escalating this incident?
Should a veteran traveler — such as a commercial airline pilot as one of many examples — be better prepared with eyeshades, earplugs and other items in order to better ensure something remotely close to proper rest aboard an airplane?
Photograph ©2008 by Brian Cohen.
