Back to Basics: Turning Off Your Electronic Devices

You are finally on the plane, your bags are stowed, and I bet your thinking, oh good, it’s time to go!  But wait — there are still a few more things that need to happen, and that need your attention, before you get to blast off.

Everyone needs to be in their seats, with all carried on items stowed, before the front airplane door can be closed.  So settle in, put your things away, and buckle up. 

Jumping up and moving seats, getting into the overheads, and heading for the bathroom are all activities that will delay a flight.  Those activities are all okay, just not at the moment the flight is ready to leave.

US carriers require that all electronics be turned off before the front door can be closed for pushback.  Flight Attendants are required to verify compliance and report in so that the front door can be closed.  While I recommend you follow the advice from this post when it comes to cell phone use, at this point in the departure process here’s what you need to focus on:

When you are asked to turn off your phone or PDA, we really need you to end your call NOW and turn off the power.  If it looks like you are in the process of doing just that, we’re going to give you the benefit of the doubt, but if the backlight is on, if you’re typing, or scrolling through something, we know that it’s not turned off!

We need the power turned off at this point, not just having the device in airplane mode.  Please comply.  If you don’t, you are holding up the departure process, giving your fellow travelers every right to be annoyed at you for causing a delay. 

I have actually had a passenger say that they didn’t care if they caused a delay because they had important business to attend to, and we could just wait.  They were accommodated — by having some extended ground time to handle all their business and traveling on a later flight.

Photo credit:  SXC

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