As far as listening to music and kids shows and games over speakers, when I tell you that no one 5 rows around you wants to listen to Barney or perhaps your choice of music….put the speakers in!  No speakers, then turn it off!

I have seen plenty of abusive flight attendants, and even experienced a couple. Some models of the Kindle don’t turn off. Nor do they have a user accessible battery that can be removed. Yet ignorant attendants will still argue with me and a couple have even threatened to have me thrown off the plane because I can’t comply with their IMPOSSIBLE directive to turn off my Kindle. I have talked to others who have been through the exact same experience. 

Yet no one seems to be interested in educating these ignorant people. The Kindle has been out for what, 4-5 years? And still the average attendant doesn’t know that they don’t have an on/off switch?

When people choose to accept ignorance and just “do what they say” we all lose. Facts become less important and blindly doing what we’re told actually becomes a virtue. 

So, you might be asking: I would have a bigger problem with this than other Kindle owners? It would be a reasonable question. Rather than put the Kindle in the seat pocket WITHOUT turning it off (as most people do), I try to educate the uneducated. “It’s a Kindle; you can’t turn it off.” I say. But since you lied to her in the past and pretended to turn your Kindle off, she thinks I’m the liar. 

And thus we found ourselves in a world where those who perpetuate lies are the good guys “full of awesome” while the truth-tellers are jerks. That can’t possibly lead us down a bad road, could it?

When it comes to iPads and the phones I can see your point. However, blind acceptance of stupidity and ignorance is never the right answer. If one of your main points is to blindly accept the authority of the attendant, I think people are far less likely to follow someone who has just exposed his or her ignorance than they are to follow someone who has shown some capacity to reason. If I’m in a life and death situation, I’m certainly not willing to trust my life to someone who can’t grasp the concept of e-ink. 

It might sound like that if you’re not very good at “reading” or “understanding” but maybe read it again. I’m talking about not doing anything for its own sake but thinking about what you’re doing, even if someone says it in an authoritative tone.

Maybe work on your social skills.

Christ.  You people.

If you want people to respect authority, authority needs to also respect people and logic. Otherwise it descends to a point of ridiculousness and revolt against authority. It is not being self-absorbed to question authority, and rebel when it is wrong, it is the very basis of being American.a

She doesn’t enjoy complaining, so she doesn’t. She just lies to you.

If not, then one pilot here, chipping in to say I disagree  :)   It’s not really a secret, that cell phones and laptops don’t interfere with the equipment… even when you’re in the pilots seat…. and my perspective on it is just the General Aviation stuff, not the pro stuff that has extra shielding and distance from passengers like you get in a commercial airline.   Most pilots who are GA, will feel free to send off a quick call to the wives to say they are almost home when the airport comes into view, or if you’re flying VFR and had a bit more crosswind than you thought, and can’t find a new airport, will use cell data to map it real quick, and get your nose pointed in the right direction rather than calling in to the busy tower the way we used to have to.   I’d be willing to bet at least some are using their cell GPS’s.. I haven’t yet, but if that was the safest thing to do, that’s what I’d do.

The tv tower half way across the city is hitting the plane with more power than your cell phone, as is the sun, and that ham radio operator on the ground, and….

A laptop bag is just that a laptop bag. it is not a bag for your laptop, work papers, 3 500 page technical manuals, your small electronics repair kit, and 5 magazines for you to read. All of that goes in your carry on and has to fit in the damn box. If it doesn’t they should make you gate check it and fine you 25% of the fare.

Also they should board planes from furthest from the door to closest, one side at a time… varriations of this that would be acceptable, 5 rows of one side, followed by 5 rows of the other side, from furthest from the door to nearest… it shouldn’t take you more than 3 minutes to make to your seat, unless you are one of the people that require assistance when boarding. In which case you get to go last.

Anyways, the people wanting to/leaving thier stuff onis way down the list as far as was bothers me about flying.

I reserve the right to lie to them, pretend I am complying, and then do whatever the hell I planned on doing anyway. I don’t enjoy complaining, so I don’t. I just disobey.

It’s not self-absorption; it’s the exercise of agency. I don’t want to go to my congressman and lobby for a bill or what-have-you. That sounds like a lot more work than just turning it off until they buckle their belts and turning it right back on again.

By all means, continue to defer to authority for authority’s sake. I mean, if it works for camp counseling, clearly it must work in every other g-d field of human concern. But shut up, jackboot, about other people who don’t. Why do you give a s**t? I don’t want to hear your complaining. Crash landing or no, guess what: eat me.

http://www.apple.com/ipodtouch/

These have all happened to me. I personally did nothing except to glare at the parent who was encouraging the behavior.