When a passenger said to me with a straight face that he had cat-like reflexes, I tried not to laugh. Only it’s impossible not to laugh when a person says something like this, and actually means it. FYI: I’ve been around a lot of passengers and I have yet to meet one with these kind of reflexes. At least not in this day and age of distracted air travel.
How did I meet my funny feline friend? We had just touched down at La Guardia airport in New York. While taxiing to the gate, I spotted him, a business man, sitting in the aisle seat of the last row of coach with a mammoth-sized computer resting on his lap, fingers typing away.
From the back of the airplane over the roar of the engine, I called out, “Sir, excuse me, Sir! ”
Either he couldn’t hear me or assumed I was speaking to someone else. I unbuckled my belt and gently tapped him on the shoulder. “You’re not supposed to be using that right now.”
Fingers continued to peck at the keys. Eyes remained glued to the screen. “I thought we were allowed to use electronic devices after landing.”
“It’s okay to use your cell phone after landing, but not a computer. That should be off and stowed.”
On a mission, the fingers kept moving. “I’m….almost…done.”
Almost was not soon enough.
photo courtesy of Svacher
Heather Poole 
Hi Heather,
Just curious about the ‘airplane mode’. You’d think that before Apple designed the phone they checked with the different manufacturers about the effect on the avionics. Obviously it has caused a problem before or they wouldn’t insist on it. Hell, it’s easier to just turn the phone off than to go through all the processes to put it in airplane mode!