GRIOTS REPUBLIC - AN URBAN BLACK TRAVEL MAG - OCTOBER 2016

As travelers we often have questions
we’d like to ask the airlines, but in the
process of rushing to our next destination
we let the questions go and
simply comply. Recently, I took the
opportunity to ask flight attendants
and pilots about three of the travel
questions that bugged me the most.
WHY MUST I TURN MY CELL
PHONE OFF?
It has been estimated that nearly 40%
of flyers do not bother to turn off or
put their phones on airplane mode.
Now, if you’ve ever made the “mistake”
of not turning your phone off
in flight, you quickly learned that in
most cases, your phone will not work
once airborne, so why do you have to
turn it off in the first place? Are the
flight attendants just being big ole
meanies? Well, that could be true but
they are simply doing as instructed.
The Federal Aviation Administration
(FAA) mandates all cellular phones
and personal electronic devices be
turned off as they are simply unsure
how much they can/will interfere
with airplane communications and
the onus is on the airlines to prove
that they do not. So, why haven’t the
airlines put us out of our collective
misery and proven it once and for
all? Well, it seems that in order to be
released from that FAA restriction,
they would have to test all (and that
means all) devices to ensure there
are no negative impacts to ground
and air communications which would
prove to be quite expensive. Frankly,
it’s just easier and cheaper on the airline
for you to hear and obey.
WHY IS AIRLINE FOOD
SO DARN AWFUL?
Many of us have been seated next
to the passenger who has pulled out
their bag lunch. We scoffed at them