When on board an airplane, passengers must maintain an awareness of not only the personal space around their seat, but also the sounds they may be releasing into the cabin. One person’s music is another person’s noise, and in a tight environment like the cabin of a plane, being exposed to sounds you don’t wish to hear can cause your blood pressure to rise. According to air travel experts, this means portable listening devices should be tuned to a volume no higher than mid-range. The goal is to restrict your music from floating beyond the immediate environs of your seat. But what happens when a fellow passenger does not follow these guidelines? He may be sitting two seats away, and you can still hear the bass pumping from his Discman. Even worse, he’s procured the latest album by an Artist You Hate, and you can barely get through a page of your book without getting distracted. How to make him aware of his transgressions without causing an ugly scene?
1. Tap the man on the shoulder and ask him to turn his music down, please. You can hear it very clearly from two seats away.
2. Nine times out of 10, your request will do the trick. But if this approach isn’t successful, you may need to call in the artillery: Press the button that signals the flight attendant.
3. When the flight attendant arrives at your seat, explain politely that you can hear this man’s music even though he’s listening to a “personal” stereo. She is trained to deal with passenger complaints and conflict resolution. Leave it in her capable hands.
If even this approach isn’t successful, you’ll need to resort to a more drastic measure that will have you singing and dancing along with the music.
1. Place yourself directly in the offender’s line of vision.
2. Tune into his music and begin to mouth the words suggestively. (This works especially well with boy band ballads.)
3. Like all good entertainers, make use of your hands to express such lyrics as, “Do you think I’m sexy?”-e.g., pointing toward him at “you,” then gesturing toward yourself at “I’m sexy,” and following up with an arch of the eyebrows.
4. Groove in your chair, making sure to employ some really obnoxious dance moves, including “shopping at the supermarket,” “raising the roof,” or “the white man’s overbite.”
5. The key to this method is to dance to the beat of the music the offender is listening to, so he recognizes that your odd behavior is linked to his own.
