I've been bombarded with lots of comments re. my blog last week in support of Alec Baldwin's refusal to turn off his cell phone while on a parked plane, which eventually led to his removal from that plane by the "airline Nazis" employed by bankrupt American Airlines.
A majority of the comments were in support of my position that the entire "turn off all electronics or the pilot won't be able to talk to the tower" lecture we get aboard flights is total nonsense and the pilots are probably on their cell phones arranging a tee time in the next city as they taxi.
Well, it turns out a lot of young people think the same as me.
According to the Atlanta-based polling firm Poll Position, which conducted a phone survey right after the Baldwin incident, 70 per cent of people between the ages of 18-29 said "yes" when asked "Do you think passengers on a plane should be able to play electronic games with others while on the runway awaiting takeoff?"
On the opposite side, 56 per cent of Americans 65 and over agreed with the airlines and said passengers should not be allowed to play games on cell phones or other electronic devices while awaiting takeoff. What the poll did not show is that probably 90 per cent of that 56 per cent number wouldn't know how to play a game on their cell phone.
For his part, Baldwin had some fun with the incident. On Saturday Night Live this past week, Baldwin, dressed as a pilot, apologized to himself.
Don't we all wish airline employees had a sense of humor like this?
See a breakdown of the full Poll Position survey at http://media.pollposition.com.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/Poll-Position-Crosstabs-Electronic-games-on-plane.pdf.
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