Laptop Etiquette Takes to the Skies

Aug. 21, 2007— -- Is it OK to read a fellow passenger's spreadsheet when it's just sitting there in full view? Do you feel entitled to watch R-rated slasher flicks? And what about the kids? Do you have to tailor your DVD selections for their — or their parents'— sensibilities?

Such questions are up for debate in an era when planes are packed to record levels, more travelers use laptops for work and entertainment — and there are no official rules guiding laptop etiquette in the sky.

According to a survey last year of 601 business travelers who use laptops, 45% admitted to peeking at someone else's laptop in public places. Fifty percent said they've noticed others looking at their laptop in public places. Manufacturing giant 3M, which sells privacy filters for laptop screens, paid for the research.

Whether passengers snoop or not, they may have difficulty escaping a neighbor's laptop screen, says Michael Steiner of Ovation Travel, a New York-based corporate travel agency.

"You're in tight quarters. There's not a lot to look at," Steiner says. "Sometimes it's tough to keep your eyes from wandering."

In past years, battery life generally limited the length of in-flight laptop sessions. But today, airports are installing more electrical sockets, and most airlines are installing outlets throughout their planes, allowing travelers to power laptops for their entire flight.

At the same time, computer manufacturers are offering models with larger screens, increasing their visibility.

Offending Material

While stuck in October at a gate at Reagan Washington National waiting for a delayed flight to St. Louis, frequent-flier Armand Davila noticed a fellow flier hunched over a laptop and discovered he was viewing X-rated content despite his seat's open location.

"He was obviously doing his best to try and hide it," says Davila, a website developer from Washington, D.C. After 10 minutes, however, "Someone yelled, 'Oh, my Lord,' " and the man closed his laptop.

Sexual content isn't the only material that can offend others. Harold Gilbert of London, Ontario, found that G-rated games can be just as annoying.

On a Northwest Airlines red-eye flight from San Francisco to Detroit recently, Gilbert sat next to a man who played a noisy golf game on his laptop without headphones even after the cabin lights were turned off. Nearby fliers complained to flight attendants, but the man never stopped playing the game, he says.

On long international flights, Delta flight attendant Julene Geilenfeldt says she's seeing more passengers — adults and children — toting laptops. Some of them don't bring headphones and crank the volume too high for others, she says.

"We have to tell them that they need to turn it down, or I'll give them headphones," she says.

Some get angry but most comply, she says. The problem is more prevalent among adults than kids, she says.

Airlines put the flight crew in charge of handling these potentially tricky situations because federal regulations require passengers to follow crew instruction. They typically get involved only when a passenger has complained. Their goal is to resolve the issue without embarrassing the offending passenger.

Finding Solutions

At JetBlue, a flight attendant might offer a seat reassignment to either party or have a quiet conversation with the customer with the offending laptop, says Jenny Dervin, a JetBlue spokeswoman.

In rare instances where a "mutually agreeable solution" can't be found, she says, a passenger would be asked to turn off an objectionable movie.

Usually, most laptop users aren't watching offensive films. Most are doing work that few would care to see — except for chronic snoopers.

Frequent-flier Rob Newman of Malibu, Calif., freely admits he views other people's laptops. He's even developed a strategy: To peek at a screen on his left, he shuts his left eye to appear as if he's sleeping and spies with his right eye.

He usually gets bored with the contents quickly. Most often, he sees spreadsheets, organizational flow charts or, at best, profit-loss statements on, for instance, sales of sunglasses. ("The markups are huge," he says.)

Passengers concerned about keeping their business or entertainment private may buy a filter for their laptop screen. It limits viewing to the person sitting squarely in front of the screen. From the side, it looks like a dark screen.

3M sells its filters for about $50 to $125, and has hired a former spy as a pitch woman.

"People are natural snoops," says Lindsay Moran, who wrote the 2005 book Blowing My Cover: My Life as a CIA Spy.

Moran says she would have liked to have had the filter in her former career. "It's not a shoe phone, but I thought this would've been a really cool gadget to have."

Occasionally, uninvited laptop viewing can result in friendship.

When Fernando Mariano of Orlando flew Singapore Airlines from Los Angeles to Singapore in May, he brought his laptop to watch colorful performances of upbeat Brazilian dance music called forro.

When the plane landed, Mariano was approached by a man who thanked him for his selections, saying he enjoyed watching them during the flight. The man then introduced himself as the swami of a New Delhi ashram, the Hindu equivalent of a monastery. Mariano was headed there a few days later, and the two arranged a visit.

"This was an unforgettable cultural and personal experience," Mariano said of his visit.