I can close my eyes and not see the pr0n. It's pretty hard to block out someone on a cell phone.

I understand the good intentions here, but who exactly are they to police what you can and can't watch on your own computer?

Obviously it wouldn't be considered in good taste to watch hardcore porn on your laptop while seated next to strangers, but how are you going to make them stop? Where do you draw the line? Hardcore? Softcore? R-rated movies? Family Guy episodes? Even if you don't have an active internet connection, you could still easily watch porn already saved to your HD.

No problem, as long as your computer is in a private place - not a plane...

In this age of portable technology, what happened to good sense, good manners and a general awareness of what you do in public and what you do in private?

Just becuase you have cell phone doesn't mean we all want to hear your conversation. Just because you feel like viewing porn on your portable laptop, doesn't mean that we want to see it too.

I can't believe that flight attendants actually have to tell people this! Although I am not at all surprised, given what I have been subjected to by men sitting next to me with thier laptops on the commuter train.

Pornography is generally viewed for pleasure and some degree of sexual stimulation. While pleasue seeking can be public, sexual stimulation is usually a private matter...

It wouldn't be considered in good taste to watch hardcore porn while on a plane, but human beings tend to be odd, and sometimes stupid, individuals.

It's like any other scenario where you're stuck next to a person for several hours - either you speak up for yourself and your sanity or suck it up for the duration. In that situation, you're sharing personal space, and reasonable requests for considerate behavior shouldn't be considered weird.

As far as where the line gets drawn - I think YMMV. I don't think I'd be bugged by someone sitting next to me looking at, say, a Playboy (hey, the articles are really great), but if I had kids and our neighbor was watching "Back Door Babes #21" on his laptop, I'd probably ask him to shut it off, and if that didn't work, ask to be swapped with someone else.

@smartmuffin: I should think it would come down to morals. If you (generalization meaning most people) wouldn't watch it in front of your mother or grandmother, then don't watch it on an airplane. Simple as that.

Then again, there are those people out there that WOULD do those things in front of their mother or grandmother. I'm sure there are applicable laws about public indecency or something along those lines. I know it came about here in Springfield as certain people were putting large monitors in their vehicles and showing porn while driving down the street. Not that I don't enjoy a good movie now and then, but not when I'm in a group of people.

America, the land of prudes. Can I request Southwest stewardesses not fucking sing over the PA during my flight?

What's worse? Depends on the porn and if I can hear it.

If it is normal hardcore and the guy is wearing headphones, Skype is worse. If it is German Donkey porn and the moans and neighs are blaring out of his speakers, then the porn is worse.

@BeeBoo: Ahhhh...but turning up the volume on the pr0n would help mask the jabber.

If you're going to blab away on a cell phone next to me on a flight, you better be prepared to eat the phone (or have it otherwise implanted internally). I'm just sayin'

@smartmuffin: Can't agree with you. Just because you have the right to watch porn, which I support. You don't have the right to watch it wherever and whenever you please.

"What's worse: sitting next to a guy watching porn, or sitting next to a guy yabbering away on Skype?"

Obviously it depends on whether the guy will let you watch too.

We flew Air Canada recently. They have back of seat video systems on most of their new planes - even for us plebs in Economy. They system has a vast number of choices available.

I initially chose a series of short student films (Vancouver Film School) but the first one had a "nudity and violence" warning so I stopped and went elsewhere. (There was a gal with a toddler sitting behind us and I didn't want to get mixed up in a "Momma what are those" scenes.)

And if the guy next to you is watching "VERY Popular Mechanics" that wasn't me, doesn't even LOOK like me and besides what I did get through college is my business.

Haven't they thought far enough ahead to think about the fact that people that view porn already have it stored on their device? Internet access will not stop anyone that wants to look at porn on their flight. The option is already there. What they need to do is ask travelers to submit their hard drives (and all other devices with screens) for inspection prior to each flight. They could then scan all memory on the device and either allow it or confiscate it. This would ensure that no porn made it on board for anyone to watch. There would need to be a charge for this scan, of course.

Depends what they call porn. I once had to leave a hospital and put a maxim magazine in my car because someone was offended by it.

When I came into this thread, I thought it was going to be about people watching porn already stored on their laptops or with portable DVD players. It seems like if this were an issue it would have been long ago. On the plus side, it's given me a new anti-child maneuver on the plane: keep a generic porno on my laptop and if I get stuck next to an annoying kid, play it. Hopefully the parents will noticed and move him, or at least the kid will shut up and pay attention to the movie.

Why is that the flight attendants only want to block porn from wi-fi? Laptops have been around for 20 years. People with hard drives full of porn have been flying for a long time. Why do the flight attendants make a stand now? What about portable DVD players? What's stopping people from whipping out their porn DVD's? Why is it now that the attendants suddenly show their concern? Why isn't the flight attendant's union concerned about adult magazines? They're sold in every airport... yet we never hear them complain about it?

I don't believe it's a problem. It's the flight attendant's union flexing their muscle. They think that someone MIGHT watch porn, so it's a problem. The flight attendants' union is a bunch of luddites who believe that internet access is bad.

I'm platinum, I fly every other week. I've yet to see anyone looking at porn in an airport, on the plane.
I probably would not like it if someone was sitting next to me browsing porn, but I wouldn't make a scene. I'd probably hand them a blanket and a stack of pillows and say, "keep it to yourself."

While it's a slippery slope towards legislating morality, wouldn't it be easy to just make "not watching pornographic materials on the computer" part of the contract of carriage? I mean, just make it a policy in writing, and if someone on the plane is watching porn, the flight attendant can say, "you signed a contract when you bought your ticket that said you wouldn't do that, now please put it away."

Oooh, what about someone doing Skype-sex with his girlfriend? That's a double-whammy!

I'm anti-legislating morality and generally pro-porn, but I'd be creeped out if my seatmate was watching porn, especially if it was going to be a long flight. This is partly b/c I'm a woman who usually flies alone (and who read a story on this very site of a solo female traveler who woke up with semen in her hair), and partly b/c I believe in private and public acts -- I don't want to be in a cubicle next to somebody watching porn at the office, either. There's something really unsettling about the idea of someone who cannot even make it to a private venue or last a few hours without sexual stimulation.

Does that make any sense?

I suspect most guys (because let's be honest, you're unlikely to see a woman watching Buttlestar Gallactica or whatever) aren't going to watch porn on a plane anyway or hide it well -- maybe watching on some tiny screen...which is why people who fly with some regularity (like my boyfriend) don't report seeing it. Most or many guys would probabliy be embarrassed to be spotted watching it, especially if the kid across the aisle points out a visible woodie. "Mommy, how come that man's pants have that big bump in them?"

@chadbailey: That would never fly. Not only would some people be embarrassed to have others know that they have porn on their PC, but people (especially business people) w/sensitive info would never allow a third party to scan their HDDs.

@jbl-az:

Ack- worse- he asks you to watch with him.

So long as they're not jacking off or groping ME, I don't care.

What are the sky waitresses worried about? Ask the user to stop and if he doesn't, slap an "interfering with a flight crew" charge on him.

@eelmonger: I like that idea.

Isn't it, like, technically illegal to show porn to anyone under the age of 18? If it is, it would seem easy enough to block access to pornography on the plane's WiFi on that basis without getting too many arguments. (And who wants to be the creep arguing with a flight attendant about their inability to access XTube?!)

I mean, unless the airline is going "Adults Only," there's a pretty good chance that there will be a kid within eyeshot of the porn. Besides, I'm as sex-positive as the next person, but who can't get through a flight without watching porn? I mean, c'mon!

The argument that filtering adult-oriented websites might lead to more censorship, and that it's a slippery slope, is a pretty flawed one... It's the same argument that people opposed to gay marriage make-- "What's next?! Marrying a sibling?! Marrying a goat?! If we open up marriage to teh gays, then we're going to have to let pedos marry four year old girls!"

I have no problem, whatsoever, with airlines opting to ban adult material over their WiFi. It would seem easier (for everyone) than making the poor flight attendants confront creeps who decide that they just can't make it through the flight without teh pr0ns.

its must be those perverted drunken japanese salarymen.

Come on people, no real defense for it. Kids fly on airplanes too, they don't need to be seeing that. Its a liability issue in the least for any airline, that would be why they are pressing for it.

People don't need to be watching porn in a public area at all, yet alone anywhere where a kid can walk by and see it.

No need for inspections, just simply breaking this rule should result in some type of penalty.

Also, there is a great difference between nudity and porn before anyone else decides to point out "R" Rated films.

As long as the guy's not pulling a Pee Wee Herman next to me, I can live with it...it's pretty disgusting that so many people feel comfortable enough to watch porn in public though.

@Fly Girl: Actually, not that slippery of a slope. I just graduated from nursing school and use my laptop to study for my boards. During my last semester, I was doing a module on women's health. That involved some pictures of drawn anatomy, including naked genitalia. Is that inappropriate?

At my school, they installed a filtering system that messed things up for an entire week because many medical sites have appropriate naked pictures on them. They ended up having to drop the entire system because it would even flag sites that use the words "breast" or "penis".

So, who decides the filter and what is appropriate and what isn't? I'm not for some guy (or gal) rubbing away next to me on a flight, but I can't see a scenario where I would be upset saying to someone, "Hey idiot, knock it off and navigate away from Fleshbot.com." (no offense, admins)

Watching porn in public is a deliberate act. People do it to make the person next to them feel uncomfortable and degraded. It's sexual harassment.

The 'net might be free and open, but when you are on the plane you are using the airline's portal to the web. Your boss can filter your access to the stuff while you are at work or otherwise using their equipment, so why can't the airlines use the same filters?

Besides, does somebody's 7 year old really need to get an eyeful or earful of ... well you get the idea, much less the friends of flying waitress that actually starred in the flick?

Ooops, forgot to mention, I was doing that module on a flight to Portland. Nobody seemed to mind.

@BytheSea:

Well said.

@sixseeds: That makes perfect sense. People typically watch porn to get turned on (seriously, is anyone watching it for the artistic aspect). The individual sitting watching porn on a plane is getting aroused. Things happen when blood leaves the brain for the nether regions.

@mrsultana: I have seen medical pictures and there isn't anything sexual about them. But that brings up a point of distinction. Are naked people pictures ok (ala medical book) or just photos and movies that are meant to sexually stimulate.

Note: Yes, I realize that there are those who will get turned on by Human Anatomy, 2nd Edition. But usually that is not the case.

@Fly Girl:
Oh, and I'm all for the idea of an "Adults Only" airline.

@sixseeds:

"I'd be creeped out if my seatmate was watching porn"

I don't see the conflict. There's no right to never be "creeped out".

@mrsultana: I get what you're saying about possibility of the filters not allowing medical cock shots, but... I still think it's easier for the airline just to block out risque content than to risk having to have a confrontation with some asshat that thought it would be a good idea to google Two Girls-One Cup during his flight. (Or her flight! Girls can be pervs, too!)

While it would have been inconvenient for you to not be able to do your homework on the flight, I think that the number of put out med students would be pretty slim, and that the good (of blocking teh pr0n) outweighs the bad (of possibly blocking other stuff)...

That being said... I, too, am all for the idea of an "Adults Only" airline!!! :)

@BytheSea: Must we ascribe to malice what can just as easily be ascribed to not-giving-a-rats-ass-about-other-people rather than accusing them of intentional torts?

@mrsultana: "Oh, Stewardess! Can you help me lock my tray table in the upright position if you know what I mean?"

Who just watches porn for a view hours and doesn't... touch themselves at the same time? It's not like you can watch a hardcore porn the way you can watch a movie.

I'm really confused. If you can't watch porn, and can't use skype, what's the point of putting wifi on the plane? To be sure, watching porn on your laptop has nothing to do with wifi. You can dl movies and rip DVDs to the hdd, so filtering can't possibly catch everyting.

Are they preventing skype use because it competes with their $6/min in flodht phone service?

This all falls on the definition of pornography. Are these people watching hardcore pornography, or something different? If what they are viewing is perhaps an adult message board, or "hook up" website, similar to what so many social networking sites have become, it's still inappropriate, but I don't think as offensive.

@ludwigk:

Most airlines don't have those phones anyways. I was involved in a Focus Group for a major airline thinking about installing the Wi-Fi, and that was one of the questions rasied.

The answer from 8 out of 10 of the people in the group was that they view the plane as a relative place of peace, and its one of the last untouched areas on earth where you don't have to hear 100 cell conversations, and they'd rather it remain that way

I can't believe no one has pulled out this old meme:

(Passenger watching "MILFs Volume 73".)
Neville: "Enough is enough! I have had it with this motherf*cking porn on this motherf*cking plane!"

@Corporate-Shill: A second "well said."

And it's not a far leap to the person talking loudly on a cell phone and infringing on everyone's right to peace and quiet. They know exactly what they are doing, and that it irritates people. Perfect passive-aggressive enabler.
I spoke up to a man in a rather small waiting area who suddenly decided he needed to discuss his dinner last night at Olive Garden with some poor bored feeb. He did so very loudly, drowning out the TV (news). I politely said "I'm sorry, but we can't hear the news." He made a loud comment to his phone-mate about someone saying he was talking too loudly, and went out among the corridors and other areas--but not outside, though it was a lovely day--and funnily enough, he ran out of things to say very quickly. No audience. No one to annoy, no fun.

I'm sorry but I just cannot enjoy my flight unless I have my meatspin.

I see two solutions to people watching porn on an airplane.

1. Shout loudly so that the entire plane knows what a skeeze is in the seat next to me. If you don't have the human decency to take that to a private location, don't expect me to ask you anything politely.

2. Document the child sitting within eyesight, make sure the creep is prosecuted under every chester-the-molester law there is. It's illegal to expose children to porn (to clarify, if you're getting this reaction from me, it's more graphic than what you'll see on HBO or Skinemax).

The problem for AA here is without some sort of filtering combined with an Acceptable Use Policy, they are an easy target to be sued fostering a hostile work environment. It's not just employees, but passengers who could be offended and have grounds to sue AA.

If it's really GOOD porn, the only polite thing to do is share.
But everyone, please use your own tissue - to do else is unsanitary.

If someone takes their laptop into the lavatory and returns to his seat red-faced and panting fifteen minutes later, does that count as the Mile High Club? Or would that be more, Half-Mile High Club?