Rise of infuriating new trend that’s made flying even more unpleasant

A growing number of travelers are taking phone calls on speakerphone or watching movies and shows without headphones, making the already arduous task of flying even more unpleasant.

To give evidence told the Wall Street Journal the perpetrators span the generational and socio-economic spectrum, from grandparents on loudspeakers to toddlers on iPads and from first class to coach.

Some airlines, including American Airlines and Alaska Air, have now made announcements urging customers to use headphones. Delta has also added a plea for the use of headphones at the bottom of the in-flight entertainment page.

“I’ll probably see it on every flight,” said an unidentified flight attendant from a major U.S. airline.

He claimed that sharp looks are usually enough to shame the out-loud movie watchers, explaining, “They embarrass themselves enough as it is.”

But the problem is not just limited to the flights themselves. Sasha Sinclair shared how she watches tech bros pace back and forth at the boarding gate at San Francisco International Airport, making business calls without headphones, sometimes broadcasting potential Silicon Valley secrets over the jet bridge.

“It’s definitely a little alarming,” she said.

Tracey Parsons added that “it’s even worse at the airport at the gate,” noting that she has heard calls from her fellow passengers at every U.S. airport she has passed through in recent years.

“I don’t want to listen to your phone conversation. I don’t want to listen to both sides,” said Parsons. “I don’t want to watch TikTok with you.

“It’s baffling to me, we used to have headphones.”

Part of the problem appears to be the change in technology and sales tactics.

Headphones used to be included with new iPhone purchases, but as Bluetooth headphones become more common, people are trying to preserve battery life during the flight.

Others say that after the pandemic, people have abandoned old norms of public decorum.

Podcasts and sports games can now even be heard in open offices, and passersby can usually catch snippets of phone conversations on the sidewalk.

Transport authorities have also struggled to get passengers on trains and subways to keep their music to themselves.

As a result, some travelers have decided to take matters into their own hands.

For example, Neil Berger tried to intervene in Air Canada’s Maple Leaf Lounge in Vancouver last month when he could no longer tolerate the sound of a blaring video.

He said he turned to the perpetrator and said, “I think you might have forgotten your headphones.” I have an extra pair.”

The listener literally ‘looked up, didn’t say a word and walked away. That’s quite a result, honestly,” she said.

Shannon Black, from Vancouver, Washington, also shared how she was punished years ago for watching a movie without headphones on a flight.

“I was shocked, I didn’t know she could hear it,” Black said. “I was so apologetic and of course I muted it straight away.”

When Black struggled to mute a woman video chatting on speakerphone in Delta’s Salt Lake City airport lounge last month, she tried to intervene herself.

“I said, ‘Excuse me, would you mind using headphones? That’s louder than you think and we can all hear it,'” she said.

But the woman responded that she found the suggestion “incredibly rude.”

“I didn’t expect that,” Black admitted.

Joe Rojas also told how he and his wife were relaxing in a Delta lounge in Kansas City, Missouri, when a woman walked in, put down her bags and turned on a television program.

Realizing that no one else would be performing, Rojas sat down next to the woman, leaned over and began watching the show with her.

“I said, ‘Since we all need to hear it, I thought we should look at it together,’” he said.

The woman then searched through her bags for her headphones.

“Of course I had to go back to my seat directly across from her and pretend I hadn’t called her out in front of everyone,” he said.

Rojas went on to say that he would do it again, but when he heard a woman playing music from her phone at full blast in the waiting room of a doctor’s office a few days later, he decided to let it go.

“I didn’t want to push my luck,” he explained.