Airport's strict 'quiet policy' has flight passengers sounding off
One traveler is drawing attention from many others to a particular airport policy.
Posted in the "r/unitedairlines" forum on Reddit, the post was entitled, "What do you think of SFO's ‘Quiet Airport policy’? Should other airports take note?"
The user then shared a photo of a monitor screen at the San Francisco International Airport (SFO) that says, "This is a quiet airport," along with a speaker crossed out.
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"Flight announcements are made only [at] the boarding gates. Please refer to displays or your airline's app for real-time status," the screen says.
Reddit users took to the comments section to debate whether or they supported this travel change.
"I LOVE IT! There are so many ways to get notified (email, text, airline app push notifications) that you don’t need loud announcements across the airport," said one user.
Another person commented, "The only announcements needed are for left-behind items and lost children or old people."
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Said yet another, "Yes! Other airports need to take notes."
A Redditor shared, "I flew through SFO a few weeks ago for the first time in a decade. The first thing I noticed was how quiet and peaceful it was compared to my outbound route with the connection in DFW," referencing the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport.
"For a 4-hour layover, it was GLORIOUS to not have all the noise. It seemed like people were calmer and not in a rush, either. Not sure it's related, but feels like it is," the person added.
"Would be cool if they compensate[d] by adding more signs/screens around the terminal with flight alerts," said another user. "Otherwise, it's sort of a degradation of service in ways. And how does this work for blind people? They have to stay by the gate at all times."
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One user commented, "The best way to eliminate most noise is to make all passengers and employees use earbuds or headphones when using devices, including phones."
Another Redditor wrote, "It’s my home airport and I love it. I believe it sets the tone for a more calm and relaxed travel experience."
The "quiet airport" program was launched in 2018. Its intention was "to limit sound footprints and establish guidelines around the use of music in tenant spaces," according to SFO’s website.
"The SFO Customer Care team realigned where public address announcements would be made, to ensure that audio paging for passengers would be made only in necessary and relevant areas," the announcement added.
Staff at the airport estimated more than 90 minutes of unnecessary announcements have been eliminated each day, for a 40% reduction.
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Fox News Digital reached out to SFO for further comment.
Brandon Blewett, the Texas-based author of "How to Avoid Strangers on Airplanes," told Fox News Digital he's flown through SFO since 2020 and was not aware of the policy — but appreciates the intent.
"Airports aren’t exactly known for their serenity," he said. "You’ve got hard surface floors, carts beeping, people FaceTiming at full volume, and neighboring gate agents just trying to make sure the right passengers get up [for boarding]."
Blewett added, "Maybe I'm an outlier because I live in airports, but for me, quiet isn’t the expectation — it just all blends together as background noise."
"In theory, I like the idea of limiting overhead announcements," Blewett also said.
However, he said, "the execution sounds doomed. If a gate agent has to contact airport staff — who then target a specific speaker zone just to announce a gate change or final boarding based on where they think a passenger might be — it starts to feel less like a ‘quiet revolution’ and more like sonar whack-a-mole."