“Flying 767 biz class aisle seat. MXP-EWR right now. I have had my screen on the flight status display since takeoff and window seat guy has been watching movies since takeoff. I flip my screen to review the movies and he says to me (first words spoken to me btw) ‘can you leave your screen on the fight tracking window? I like to watch that while I am watching the movie’”
Would You Allow Your Seat Mate to Use the In-Flight Entertainment System in Front of Your Seat?
The paragraph you just read was posted by FlyerTalk member fracmeister, who experienced this situation just last week as the in-flight entertainment system was kept on the movies until it was finally turned off so that fracmeister could take a nap…
…and upon awakening, the in-flight entertainment system was re-activated and tuned in to the flight tracker. “He had reached over and used my controller I suppose” is what fracmeister surmised before turning off the in-flight entertainment system once again — and buried the controller to the system. “I am not one to be easily offended but he is directionally headed to annoying” was the conclusion.
Summary
Asking to use the in-flight entertainment system of another passenger in addition to the one in front of your own is one of the stranger requests I have ever heard in my years of traveling and have never experienced, as I find it to be quite bizarre.
I enjoy watching the flight tracker to see the progress of the flight and exactly where in the world the airplane is flying at that moment; but I would never impose on another person — let alone a fellow passenger aboard the confined space of an airplane — any requests of that nature.
I suppose if the passenger next to me asked nicely enough to use the in-flight entertainment system in front of my seat and I had no use for it at that moment, I would grant that request on the condition that I still have control over it for the duration of that flight…
…but I would not exactly be delighted either if a fellow passenger helped himself or herself to the in-flight entertainment system which is located in front of my seat. What if I was sensitive to light and awoke from my nap? What if he or she disturbed me in some other way?
Have you ever encountered this experience during your travels? What are your thoughts — and what would you do?
All photographs ©2015 and ©2017 by Brian Cohen.
