Originally posted by steven88
"attention to flight attendants should there be an emergency."
As much as I sympathise with the general principle, on a semi-recent VS flight, I was asked not to read a newspaper [V] while we were coming in to land, presumably for a similar reason. They asked this on the cabin staff's final pass down the cabin, which is a logical enough time to do it, though it was particularly annoying that that was before we ended up in a stack and so our landing was delayed. Apparently even reading the in-flight magazine, such as it is, or the safety card while we were in our final descent would not have been appreciated. I can understand the reason for removing video entertainment, but removing written entertainment as well stuck in my craw. I accept that newspapers are ungainly and difficult (or, at least, inconvenient) to dispose of should an emergency occur, but books, magazines and safety cards are not.
It's important to realise that all decisions about desirable levels of safety are compromises; when people say "safety must come first at all costs!" then, to take this to its logical conclusion, all the seats should be pointing backwards, all the passengers should have their own parachutes and parachute training, and so forth. It's all a compromise between safety, comfort, entertainment, convenience and expense, and the safety-entertainment decision has been taken a little further in the direction of safety and a little further away from the direction of entertainment than I would like.
But on balance I still love VS, despite its many faults, for it remains the best thing going in my experience...
Chris [:(!]
