ihatechewinggum

I realise I might be in the minority here, but....

Does anybody else find music that gets piped into aircraft cabins intensely irritating? I came back on BA this morning from GRU to LHR, and for the last ten minutes of the flight we had a string orchestra with us in the cabin. I'm a professional pianist, so it's certainly not the music itself I'm objecting to - it's the idea that we're forced to have it there whether we like it or not, in an environment which already has its fair share of ambient noise. (Iberia is the worst in my experience when it comes to this - the last few flights I took with them the music was on for the duration.) I mentioned it to one of the CC as we waited to disembark, who indicated that she also found it stressful, as did several other passengers standing nearby. (Which sort of gave me the confidence to start this thread...) I'd guess that those people lucky enough not to be irritated by piped music would probably hardly notice it at all - which begs the question, what purpose does it serve? What's wrong with peace and quiet, at least as far as you can have in an aircraft cabin? And is it a new BA policy??? Hope not....

Capetonian

Ghastly isn't it! Piped music anywhere is ghastly, I walk out of shops and restaurants that indulge in this awful practice as I regard it as a form of pollution.

Studies that have shown that in restaurants where there is lively music people tend to eat faster, and thus more, as the stomach is slow to tell the brain it's full, so the faster you eat the more you eat. Further, it vacates the tables faster for the next victims.

On a 'plane, as a captive audience, there is nothing you can do except express your displeasure to the CC in the hope that if enough people do so, the practice will be stopped eventually.

TightSlot

Rather than comment to the CC, I'd suggest an email to the company direct - Why? One of my previous employers abandoned 'boarding muzac' purely on the basis of cost. The various payments (Royalties? Licenses?) were costing hundreds of thousands of £ a year (apparently).

Alternatively - what about an online petition? At the moment, you have no idea of the strength of feeling - there could be thousands (millions?) of people out there who feel the same, or there could be two. Right now, none of us know.

eightyknots

Thought you only had one previous employer!

We've got it back on some of our "inherited" A/C.

Sygyzy

For years (well...quite some time) BA used to play the theme from the TV series 'Mash' as their boarding/disembarkation music. Until some bright spark pointed out the title. Suicide is Painless....

S

TightSlot

Quote:

Originally Posted by eightyknots

Thought you only had one previous employer

Well, yes - I was being all mysterious and masking my identity.

Didn't work that well - my dark past has caught up with me again!

VS-LHRCSA

Great, now I have the M*A*S*H theme in my head.

As TightSlot suggests, you need to write to customer relations so it can be tracked accordingly however I don't remember ever having received a complaint regarding the music.

Funny enough, I flew for an airline that played contemporary music (not muzak) from the 60s through to the 90s across a variety of genres. They felt the expense was justified because it broke the tension during take off and landing and helped to calm nervous passengers by giving them something to concentrate on as well as covering up some aircraft noises.

west lakes

To be honest the music doesn't bother me as such. However the quality of it on some a/c is lamentable with all the bass tones missing.
I suspect the pa system is mainly designed for vocal announcements* so music can sound "tinny"

* not that the sound quality is sometimes up to even that!

Checkboard

I used to work in an "off-licence" - and every Christmas they played Bing Crosby's "White Christmas" Well - nice songs, but listen to the album for a week solid and it gets to you, you know?

On our airline, the crew are instructed to play the corporate "hurry up and get off the aircraft" (specially commissioned) music for disembarking.

It speeds the turn-around process.

So - perhaps the music being "not objectionable" but "annoying to stay with" means that you have been victim to a clever crowd control specialist ....

firstchoice7e7

I personally find the music relaxing, particularlry the classical sort, it beats listening to my seat mates nasal intakes . However i still have nightmares about the First choice Caribbean style music played in a loop again and again for 40 mins during a ground delay at IBZ.

750XL

Thomson have started playing the latest 'chart' music on their 738's at least...

The other day they had Justin Bieber, Pendulum and Katy Perry on.

I'm sure TOM cabin crew also confirm this

IJM

Must remember to avoid Thomson then....

The theme from M*A*S*H was mentioned earlier, the instrumental version is quite palatable, although I could understand the version with vocals ("Suicide is Painless") raising some eyebrows!

WHBM

BA appears to have finally given up the Flower Duet by Delibes, which was doubly annoying because you had probably heard it over and over again while on hold to the reservations team .......

I always liked Cathay's subdued Asian music on arrival, and surprisingly also Northwest's boarding jazz and blues (Northwest was significant at Memphis, the home of same). But Muzak (distributed by the Muzak Corportaion since the 1930s) is just tedious.

750XL

Surprised there's been no comments about the old 'Ryanair Techno' music

easyflyer83

Certain tracks on the EZY boarding music can be annoying although it has been removed from most a/c now in preparation for new music whatever and whenever that maybe.

ihatechewinggum

Thanks for all your responses. Hadn't thought about the royalties issue, but now you mention the FR techno music, I do remember thinking it sounded like something MOL had thrown together on his synthesizer at home. Now it all makes sense.

I emailed customer services at BA this morning and got a standard reply back informing me that there will be a delay in responding to my complaint due to "recent industrial action and volcanic ash activity." That ash just won't go away... But Tightslot's idea of an online petition sounds good - it would be interesting to know how many people do in fact sit there silently grinding their teeth. I also avoid the same shops and restaurants as Capetonian - if only one had that choice in the air.

One of the last times I flew with IB I asked the CC if it was possible to turn off the music - this was well into the cruise. He told me it wasn't possible, and that they could only turn it down to a certain level. Sounds strange to me - can anyone who works/worked for the company confirm?

bfisk

A few times on Finnair (OSL-HEL and return), Finnair have annoyed the hell out of me with their "boarding music" being on from boarding until the seatbelt signs are turned off. It's about 3-4 songs, all unknown to me, being played on repeat, relatively loud. Especially on one sector HEL-OSL, we were delayed from the stand for some reason and I believe we heard every tune 3-4 times, it did not f-ing stop until the cabin service began. Incredibly annoying.

WHBM

A related non-aviation example.

Years ago the Muzak Corporation installed as an innovation their piped music in tramcars running in US cities. It was on a tape loop, 3 minutes of music and then a commercial. It started when the tram was switched on and could not be overridden. However it had a feature that when started up, it only began broadcasting when it reached the start of a music track. The music infuriated the drivers subjected to it all day, so when the music began they would turn the master switch off for a moment, then back on again, and that gave another 4 minutes of silence.

Trouble was, when the master switch was turned off the emergency brakes were fully applied. So the tram rolled nicely through the city, every few minutes there would be an opening bar or two of music, followed by a huge lurch as the brakes went on for a moment and everyone was thrown forward in their seats, then normality was restored until a while later, when it all happened again.

Neptunus Rex

There is a very simple answer to the unwanted music problem. Invest a few quid in 'Noise Cancelling Headphones,' the best quality you can afford. They have their own batteries and you can either listen to your own music box, or get an adaptor so that they can be connected to most airline entertainment systems.

The benefits are twofold. Whilst listening to the music of your choice, the sound quality is far better and ambient noise is eliminated. In addition, you can withdraw the plug, leave the headphones on, and enjoy absolute silence.

As most of those complaining about the nuisance are frequent fliers, the expense is surely justified.

ExXB

NR, while I agree with your comment completely (I've got the Bose ones) the OP said: Seeing as headphones can't be worn after engine startup until cruise and from about 10 mins before landing this isn't a solution.

If airlines are paying a royalty for this, it's money down the drain.