I have traveled fairly consistently for the beginning part of my professional career. On average while working at Epic, I traveled about 2 weeks out of a month, some times more, rarely less. I have also been traveling a bit since I started working for Blue Apple Productions. I went to Orlando for the IAPPA convention, back to Orlando for the Disney Showcase Soccer Tournament, and other various places. During all of my airtravel I have been observant, as I usually am, of other travelers around me. What I cannot grasp is why travelers are so defiant – particularly on the actual planes. I would hate to be a flight attendant because of everyones attitude when flying.
Just recently I was upgraded to first class due to my status and frequency of flying on this particular airline, and sat next to one of the worst travelers I have ever seen. He was obviously a businessman and traveled a lot, but so was I and I cannot believe the complete disregard for rules and airline regulations. A perk of flying first class is that you get to load first and can sip on a drink while everybody else in the plane loads. This gentleman sitting next to me had his seat reclined and relaxing while reading his paper. No problem, I sometimes do the same thing. The next point of note is when the airplace boarding door was shut. If you have flown recently, you know that you must turn off all electronic devices once that boarding door is closed (not just airplane mode, but completely off). The gentleman sitting next to me completely disregarded this FAA requirement mentioned by the flight attendant and continued to work on his phone, hiding it anytime a flight attendant walked by. Is he really going to miss that much on his precious phone for the 10 extra minutes he will be able to use it on the ground? One he gets up in the air, it is useless anyway. In addition, why are you willing to risk the safety of over 100 people on board by keeping your phone on? The radio signals from your phone could interfere with the radio communications the pilots have with ATC according to the FAA. Why can’t people understand that these rules are in place for a reason.
After the boarding door had been closed, the flight attendant came by and asked my seat partner to bring his seatback up to its upright and locked position and helped him to that position. Once the flight attendant had left the area, he immediatly put it right back down to his reclined position! How defiant can you actually be? I could not believe how directly inconsiderate he was being to the flight attendants and to the rest of the people around him. Wait the stupid 10 minutes till we get in the air, then you can recline all you want until we land! I understand it is a huge inconvenience for you to have to sit upright for a short period of time, but you know what – its for your own safety – but I guess he’s too thick headed to understand that. He probably knows best about everything and that is why he chooses to ignore rules and regulations.
He left his phone on for the entire flight and did the same exact thing with his seat back at the end of the flight while we were landing.
Rules and regulations are in place for a reason. Sometimes they are excessive and therefore should be challenged, but should be followed until you understand why they are that way and challenge them to try to get them reverted. But if rules are in place, they should be followed. This is a reason why business in the U.S. is so screwed up. Businesses that follow the rules and laws don’t grow as quickly as those that take shortcuts and do not follow all of the regulatory requirements, etc. So those businesses that do follow the rules are left to work harder, and ultimately fail because they cannot compete with the businesses that grow quickly and eat up all of the business. Then we run into situations like Enron and Bernard Madoff.
Unfortunately it is now our job as consumers to ensure that those businesses we receive services or goods from are legitimate businesses. To ensure that they have appropriate insurance, and follow the appropriate rules and regulations of the city, state, and country. The government can’t do it because there are just too many businesses out there. So once again, the responsibility falls to us as consumers. Enjoy the responsibility and please follow rules where appropriate. It may not seem like you alone can help, but if you do it, others will follow.
Do you think that rules are made to be broken? Or do you think they should be followed? Do you feel that businesses should be regulated more so that situations like Enron and Bernard Madoff can’t happen? Leave your thoughts in the comments.