Letter to the Travel Editor

I know that I am in the “aged” group of travellers but I do not think I am alone in not understanding the communications received in an aircraft. Most of my travel in the last few years has been, for one reason or another, in foreign aircraft where English is not the first language of most of the crew and at times it is hard to understand.

I flew Air New Zealand to Christchurch a few weeks ago and while not overly impressed with the diction — it was okay until a male crew member took over the microphone to explain what was happening as we powered into a “go round”. He was not flight crew as they were otherwise occupied but spoke clearly and concisely and that calmed a few passengers who were rather upset. Brilliant.

Then the return flight: my travelling companion and I are still trying to understand the gabble that was given by a female crew member as we left Christchurch. My companion had, two weeks prior, had a hearing test and passed with flying colours and as far as I am aware I have no problems — in fact, I often hear too much, I am told by the younger generation.

Why-oh-why are the flight and cabin crews not instructed how to speak into a microphone? All they have to do is slightly slow down their speech and possibly be aware of diction. Maybe I missed the point and it is a race to get the message across as fast as possible — I just would hate to be on a flight that had problems given the speed that that flight message was delivered. The same applies to staff at the airport who deliver messages that are indecipherable.

Maybe I am just getting to be a grumpy old woman, but I would like to know what is happening around me. Air New Zealand, please take note. M. Allan, Hillcrest