• HollandJim@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Wait - is this an American thing now?

    I ask as I’m American but have lived overseas for 25+ years. Europeans don’t clap. The two of us travel through different parts of Asia to see friends and family - no clapping on Asian flights either. Just grab your bag and exit asap.

    This seems very weird.

    • Potatos_are_not_friends@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Am American:

      I cheer loudly like my team just won.

      Then i go “USA USA USA”, as I excitingly high five everyone around me. Then we pull out our AR-15s, shoot through the roof of the airplane, and thank Jesus that we again beat Science and flew through the heavens the way god intended.

    • fibojoly@sh.itjust.works
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      1 year ago

      Nah, it’s a “first time flying and there is a bunch of us and we’re so grateful the pilot didn t kill us all” kind of thing.
      Was on a flight this summer with some seriously unstable wind that made the landing a bit more impressive than usual and many people clapped. Return landing was smooth as fuck and sure enough, everybody was gangsta, then.

      • peopleproblems@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Yeah the two times I was on a plane where people clapped it was because of less than great weather (like the runway being in a quarter inch thick ice sheet) and the other because air traffic control fucked up and told the pilot he was clear to land when a 737 was right below us landing already.

        To be honest, both times I think I agree clapping was ok.

        If you land in fine weather and no near miss, and still clap? That’s a red flag

        • fibojoly@sh.itjust.works
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          1 year ago

          You know, I don’t think you got the right comparison (i do thank the cabin crew), but I think I see your point. I guess it could be seen as clapping at the end of a music performance, I suppose. Not everybody can line up to politely thank the conductor, or the artists, or whatever, so a communal gesture has to be enough. Sure why not.

    • FlexibleToast@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      I flew a lot for work. Some airlines, like Southwest, are targeted at vacationers and you’re more likely to get clappers. I flew a lot of United, and the only clapping I heard was when we landed in some real rough weather. I’m convinced with the approach the pilot took that they were a naval aviator before they went commercial.

    • Downcount@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      I don’t want to be mean if I say “Europeans” are a whole bunch of different nations and cultures. Yeah, some clap.

      • nonailsleft
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        1 year ago

        Those that were later to discover flight. Italians and Portugese

        • HollandJim@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          Hm. Never flown to either, but (speaking of Europe only) to Spain, France, Netherlands, Sweden, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Germany, Poland and the UK (whether they want to be considered Europe or not) I’ve never seen that. Italy comes next year - we’ll brace ourselves for applause.

    • Lichtblitz@discuss.tchncs.de
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      1 year ago

      Clapping was very common some 30 years ago. As in the whole plane did it at any destinations I went to, and it was weird to hold back. It gradually disappeared and now it’s the other way around. But in the end - who cares either way?

    • themeatbridge
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      1 year ago

      I think it depends entirely on the length of the flight, and whether or not there is any turbulence. You fly to Hawaii, and everyone is happy to be there. You take a commuter hop from BWI to Atlanta, and nobody says a fucking peep. Newark to London, meh. Chicago to Athens, woo hoo.

    • Got_Bent@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      On Asian flights, the sound of clapping is replaced by the sound of the entire plane unbuckling their seatbelts and getting up to jockey for position to exit before the plane even touches down.