4 ms·

Contender for the biggest non-issue of the year award. You have a problem with the window screen position and aren't under specific instructions from the fligh

by krono 7y ago

Contender for the biggest non-issue of the year award. You have a problem with the window screen position and aren't under specific instructions from the flight crew to keep it in its current state? Speak up to your fellow-passengers and find a solution together. It's really not that difficult.

wyclif 7y ago
I agree with all you say, but it's a reflection of a new generation of travellers who don't want to interact with other passengers. I've seen the effect over and over again when flying. More and more of the effort of flight attendants is being shifted from serving travellers to acting as a buffer and mediating disputes between passengers. There's another story on HN now about Amtrak shutting down their dining cars. I read the story, and one of the reasons they are ending dining car service is because when they got focus group feedback from millennials they found that most of them didn't want to sit next to a stranger while dining. I find the fact that we are more digitally connected than ever before but correspondingly more socially isolated quite troubling.
- jacquesm 7y ago
  > I find the fact that we are more digitally connected than ever before but correspondingly more socially isolated quite troubling. Those two would seem to go hand-in-hand naturally to me.
- krono 7y ago
  Interesting insight yeah, I hadn't yet looked at it that way. I was thinking more along the lines of people these days expecting an unrealistic level of comfort for what they're paying (not just in transit but also theatres etc.). Social discomfort hooks into that though. I suppose its also true that a lot of people would sooner purchase in-flight WiFi and complain about the window screen position on social media, than talk about it to the person who sits in the window seat.
- Angostura 7y ago
  And in related news there's apparently a loneliness epidemic.
- brownbat 7y ago
  One of the results from happiness research is that people rate their expected enjoyment from an interaction with a stranger as very low, but if you ask them after such an interaction, they usually rate it very highly. Maybe we're risk averse because most interactions are mildly positive, but a tiny number are exceptionally bad, triggering the availability hueristic. Not sure. Either way, we're probably more avoidant than we should be.
  - meddlepal 7y ago
    Interesting point and I agree as I was about to post something similar. The vast majority of interactions I've had with strangers has been mostly forgettable, but there's a few great outliers in the negative direction that really makes me try and avoid these interactions unless I really need something.
    - sandworm101 7y ago
      Yes. Maybe 75% of the time i discover that the random stranger is a total lunatic. If they arent a flat-earther or trying to convert me to thier cult, they want to complain about how nobody wants to listen to them anymore.
      - isoskeles 7y ago
        This doesn’t sound like a random sample.
      - KC8ZKF 7y ago
        “If you run into an asshole in the morning, you ran into an asshole. If you run into assholes all day, you're the asshole.” Raylan Givens
    - techsupporter 7y ago
      > but there's a few great outliers in the negative direction that really makes me try and avoid these interactions unless I really need something Especially when it comes to air travel, it's probably a self-fulfilling prophesy. There's the perception that people are grouchy when traveling (and doesn't seem to matter whether infrequent leisure traveler or road-warrior on business) and when we combine that with largely only remembering the negative reactions and...there you go. Air travel has become so uncomfortable[0] and the loss of control feels so total that people seem more likely to enforce what little territory/control they have just because they can, not for any rational reason. 0 - Yes, yes, I know, mathematically it is cheaper, safer, more frequent, and so on... But it doesn't matter. It's turned passengers into self-loading cargo and every part of the experience, from queuing to be argued with when dropping off a bag (or dealing with a half-broken and poor user experience automated kiosk), then queuing to be yelled at through the shitty experience that passes for "air security" in the States, then queuing in a blob to get onto the pressurized metal tube then squeezing into ever-smaller seats[1], to be lectured at about how the twenty minutes of rules barked at me are for "my safety and comfort" meanwhile I can't even go pee once on a four-hour flight because of the seatbelt sign, and so on. People have compared it to "bus travel in the sky" but I have a far better experience riding King County Metro in Seattle--at least I can move around and pull the cord to get out wherever I want--than I do on almost every airline flight I take. 1 - Yes, yes, I know, you get what you pay for, but increasingly airlines are only willing to sell me two kinds of fares: a) rock-bottom, $79 each way each person, absolutely-nothing-included-except-maybe-emergency-oxygen, 37 rows back next to the aux power unit, and with add-ons bringing the per-way, per-person fare to $341.92; or 2) exotic business class with throne seats, flatware, a three-course meal served even on a flight from Dallas to Houston, no lines anywhere, and a personal thanks of gratitude from the Captain, First Officer, Purser, and Chief Baggage Handler, all for the low price of $4,027.88 per person, per way. On the handful of flights with "premium economy" (that get me a little more leg room, which I like, but no more seat width, which i don't), they're increasingly taken by the airline's Elite Travelers and what used to be $30-$60 to buy up has increased to $70-$100.
- namdnay 7y ago
  > they got focus group feedback from millennials they found that most of them didn't want to sit next to a stranger while dining That's... surprising. The trend in "cantine-style" restaurants is still going strong, isn't it?
  - chrisseaton 7y ago
    I think sitting with a large group of people cantina style is much easier as you’re one in a big crowd. One couple having to sit at a four-person table with just one other random couple? That’s very awkward.

by krono 7y ago

wyclif 7y ago

I agree with all you say, but it's a reflection of a new generation of travellers who don't want to interact with other passengers. I've seen the effect over and over again when flying. More and more of the effort of flight attendants is being shifted from serving travellers to acting as a buffer and mediating disputes between passengers. There's another story on HN now about Amtrak shutting down their dining cars. I read the story, and one of the reasons they are ending dining car service is because when they got focus group feedback from millennials they found that most of them didn't want to sit next to a stranger while dining. I find the fact that we are more digitally connected than ever before but correspondingly more socially isolated quite troubling.

jacquesm 7y ago
> I find the fact that we are more digitally connected than ever before but correspondingly more socially isolated quite troubling. Those two would seem to go hand-in-hand naturally to me.
krono 7y ago
Interesting insight yeah, I hadn't yet looked at it that way. I was thinking more along the lines of people these days expecting an unrealistic level of comfort for what they're paying (not just in transit but also theatres etc.). Social discomfort hooks into that though. I suppose its also true that a lot of people would sooner purchase in-flight WiFi and complain about the window screen position on social media, than talk about it to the person who sits in the window seat.
Angostura 7y ago
And in related news there's apparently a loneliness epidemic.
brownbat 7y ago
One of the results from happiness research is that people rate their expected enjoyment from an interaction with a stranger as very low, but if you ask them after such an interaction, they usually rate it very highly. Maybe we're risk averse because most interactions are mildly positive, but a tiny number are exceptionally bad, triggering the availability hueristic. Not sure. Either way, we're probably more avoidant than we should be.
- meddlepal 7y ago
  Interesting point and I agree as I was about to post something similar. The vast majority of interactions I've had with strangers has been mostly forgettable, but there's a few great outliers in the negative direction that really makes me try and avoid these interactions unless I really need something.
  - sandworm101 7y ago
    Yes. Maybe 75% of the time i discover that the random stranger is a total lunatic. If they arent a flat-earther or trying to convert me to thier cult, they want to complain about how nobody wants to listen to them anymore.
    - isoskeles 7y ago
      This doesn’t sound like a random sample.
    - KC8ZKF 7y ago
      “If you run into an asshole in the morning, you ran into an asshole. If you run into assholes all day, you're the asshole.” Raylan Givens
  - techsupporter 7y ago
    > but there's a few great outliers in the negative direction that really makes me try and avoid these interactions unless I really need something Especially when it comes to air travel, it's probably a self-fulfilling prophesy. There's the perception that people are grouchy when traveling (and doesn't seem to matter whether infrequent leisure traveler or road-warrior on business) and when we combine that with largely only remembering the negative reactions and...there you go. Air travel has become so uncomfortable[0] and the loss of control feels so total that people seem more likely to enforce what little territory/control they have just because they can, not for any rational reason. 0 - Yes, yes, I know, mathematically it is cheaper, safer, more frequent, and so on... But it doesn't matter. It's turned passengers into self-loading cargo and every part of the experience, from queuing to be argued with when dropping off a bag (or dealing with a half-broken and poor user experience automated kiosk), then queuing to be yelled at through the shitty experience that passes for "air security" in the States, then queuing in a blob to get onto the pressurized metal tube then squeezing into ever-smaller seats[1], to be lectured at about how the twenty minutes of rules barked at me are for "my safety and comfort" meanwhile I can't even go pee once on a four-hour flight because of the seatbelt sign, and so on. People have compared it to "bus travel in the sky" but I have a far better experience riding King County Metro in Seattle--at least I can move around and pull the cord to get out wherever I want--than I do on almost every airline flight I take. 1 - Yes, yes, I know, you get what you pay for, but increasingly airlines are only willing to sell me two kinds of fares: a) rock-bottom, $79 each way each person, absolutely-nothing-included-except-maybe-emergency-oxygen, 37 rows back next to the aux power unit, and with add-ons bringing the per-way, per-person fare to $341.92; or 2) exotic business class with throne seats, flatware, a three-course meal served even on a flight from Dallas to Houston, no lines anywhere, and a personal thanks of gratitude from the Captain, First Officer, Purser, and Chief Baggage Handler, all for the low price of $4,027.88 per person, per way. On the handful of flights with "premium economy" (that get me a little more leg room, which I like, but no more seat width, which i don't), they're increasingly taken by the airline's Elite Travelers and what used to be $30-$60 to buy up has increased to $70-$100.
namdnay 7y ago
> they got focus group feedback from millennials they found that most of them didn't want to sit next to a stranger while dining That's... surprising. The trend in "cantine-style" restaurants is still going strong, isn't it?
- chrisseaton 7y ago
  I think sitting with a large group of people cantina style is much easier as you’re one in a big crowd. One couple having to sit at a four-person table with just one other random couple? That’s very awkward.