A perfect life... unless?

At least the airplane clapping could be seen as cheering on the pilot for doing a good job. Much worse, imo, is the movie theater clapper. Those actors, directors and crew can’t hear your claps. They mean nothing!

As a teen most of my summer hollidays were spent visting abuela and abuelo in spain. Cinema (double features) were around 100 Pesetas (compared to Euro, w/o inflation 50 Cents(!). As you can imagine I saw every movie (rated or not).
First time was a culture shock (compared to the mostly silent German cinema audience), as they not only clapped, they also cheered or booed at any time the hero or villain did something heroesque/villainous.
But I grew into it and am missing it really. I wish this would be a thing everywhere.
Edit: I want to add that I'm an ancient person and ask any Spaniards: Is this still a thing?
- That sounds incredibly fun as long as you’re expecting it
- Not for the movies I've been to see here in Catalunya ... in Andalucía anything could happen!
- Yo I went to Spain for a band trip and when we performed they would applaud after for so long it was legitimately uncomfortable.
You realize clapping is mainly a social thing right?
I watched Star Wars ep 3 in theaters and the entire audience would erupt whenever Yoda did something badass.
It honestly made the whole experience that much more memorable because everyone around you is equally hyped up and enjoying the show.
How is it any different than laughing at a comedy show? Should everyone not laugh when something that's meant to be laughed at happens? Should no one cry during emotional scenes?
- This guy would've hated watching Avengers movies in India. Whooping, clapping, cheering, whistling... It was fantastic.
- Who are they clapping for? You laugh and clap at a comedy show because the talent is right there
I went to the movies once and the director was there and did a Q&A and my anxiety made me feel like we as a theatre didn’t clap enough. We don’t often have the director or any celebrities where I live, so nobody knew the protocol.
- I went to see an early screening of documentary called Best Worst Movie about the making of Troll 2. The actor who played the dad was there and the crowd went NUTS when he walked out on stage with the director afterward. I even got a picture with him, it was great!
- Yeah, that is definitely different and really cool!
- If a famous person requires a different protocol... they're not good enough to be respected as a normal person.
  A position itself should NEVER be respected simply for being there unless you are a subordinate in the military. Even then, it is legal and encouraged to disobey direct orders that are illegal.
  You don't need anxiety simply because there's a rich fuck in the room. Stop twisting yourself for others you don't even know.
Everybody clapped at the end of The Incredibles and we were not ashamed
- The lack of appropriate shame is exactly the point.
They mean something to me. I'll even clap at home, alone, too. I'll even occasionally laugh when I'm alone. Feels good.
- What why are laughing when nobody hears you!!!! Who are you laughing for. You Know nobody hears you laugh it's not like the people that made you laugh can hear it!!!!
  /s
I only clap in the movie theater when the guy who thinks he's getting a discrete hand job finally cums.
In Los Angeles there's a pretty good chance someone who had something to do with making that movie is in the audience. Or there's at least a relative or friends, who will relay the positive response. In certain other countries there's probably some CGI person who appears in tiny print after the mid-credits teaser scene. They are more likely to get a kick from applause than the director, too, since they don't parade around the talk-show circuit. I'm not saying it should be expected, but if people are really delighted, they should go ahead and express it. Joy harms no one.

Why do people care this much about completely harmless and inconsequential things other people do? I've personally never given a shit when someone else claps when a plane lands, same with people clapping in movie theatres. The world is miserable enough, let people enjoy the little things, it's not like they're forcing you to clap with them.

What I've never understood- it doesn't bother me but I've never understood it- is people who clap after a movie. I don't mean people at the premiere where the filmmakers and actors are, I mean people in some town in Wisconsin or whatever. It's weird.
- It's for the projectionist, and it's probably outdated these days. But until digital film distribution became common it was actually a fairly involved job.
  Edit: and if you go back to the silent film era the scores used to be played live. So maybe it's even a holdover from that.
Precisely because they are harmless and inconsequential. Complaining about things like this or pineapple on pizza are just meme complaints. Nobody cares that much about it in reality.
No, but they are forcing you to listen to the noise they make.
Making unnecessary noise is inconsiderate to those around you.
- And yet when I rip out a real stinker on the plane, everyone hates me.
You only need to clap for the cheaper airline as they do need the encouragement.

I think it's fair to do if the weather is really bad, storm, heavy rain and wind etc. Like a compliment.

I landed in HORRIBLE snow and wind once. We were landing almost sideways. You can bet your ass everyone clapped for that one
Can the pilots with headsets on behind the locked door hear the claps? It seems pointless to me. Just compliment them on the way off the plane.
- Why would sharing a collective sigh of relief be a bad thing even if they can't hear it?
- Can the pilots with headsets on behind the locked door hear the claps?
  Yes. And yes it makes them feel a little better

Seems fine, just tell her to put her shoes and socks back on and to not forget her book from the seat pocket in front of the person beside her.

It used to be standard in Latin America.

I like it, it's a nice way to relieve the stress of everybody being within a couple of seconds of death if the pilot fucked up.

it’s a nice way to relieve the stress of everybody being within a couple of seconds of death if the pilot fucked up.
You know what else is a nice way to relieve stress? Low noise environments.
- Latin America and "low noise"...
- Yeah, Japan has ruined me for public transit in the US and elsewhere. Clapping on a plane would just make me annoyed unless the pilot did something phenomenal in a bad situation or the like.
It makes sense in a time without autopilot and the pilots actually had to fly the while time and sometimes really wrestle with the controls. Now it's all automated so it's not nearly as impressive.
- I'm no expert, but I'm fairly certain takeoff and landing is still fully manual. Autopilot only happens once you hit cruise altitude where the risk of crashing is very very low.

And as you look to her her hands are holding yours. Yet the clapping still continues.

You look around and realize that she's dummy thick and her cheeks are clapping. All is good.

I clap when the bus driver makes it to my stop

I do thank them when I leave the bus. I guess that's sorta dumb but at least they're right there to hear it.
- It's not dumb.
- It's the done thing.

Devastating, but it's the right thing to do

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.

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.
No. It's a fuckin weirdo thing.
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.
- 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
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.
I don't want to be mean if I say "Europeans" are a whole bunch of different nations and cultures. Yeah, some clap.
- Those that were later to discover flight. Italians and Portugese
Europeans don’t clap
Italians do
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?
No, though there are the movie theater clapping weirdos.
No I've literally never have heard of this
Am European (Spanish) and there definitely are clappers here. Not in every flight, but there are clappers.
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.
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.

Idk, this clapper discussion seems to me like: Why be nice and say thank you when you can just mind your own business? Going out of your way to be nice does make a difference.

Any pilots or flight crew here want to chime in?
Would a round of applause on landing brighten your day, or be tiresome and embarrassing?
- My high-school friend is a pilot. He likes it. That's just one of them, of course.

Take this bullshit back to Reddit!

I regularly deal with antique aircraft pilots. Those temperamental old planes, you clap when they land those planes.

The pilots are antique?
- That would sure make me clap. "You didn't die behind the stick between takeoff and landing! Hooray!"

Puerto Rican here - this is unavoidable when flying to or from the island (although it’s not as loud as it used to be). It’s charming after the 100th time, even.

I once flew to San Juan, and no one clapped. Now I feel like I missed out.

If she is my soulmate that would not happen

What's wrong with clapping when the airplane land? I miss that when it was the norm when I was a kid

- So if you go to a concert or a play do you not clap? The pilots did something most people can't. They're not clapping at the plane they're applauding the pilots.
- Flying, despite all its drawbacks, is still one of humanity's greatest achievements and has transformed our society to such an extent that most people today can't even imagine what it's like to travel long distances before the rise of commercial aviation. A trip across the ocean which once took weeks or months with a very high chance of a horrific death now takes at most 12 hours and is the safest mode of transport. If that doesn't warrant applause I don't know what does.
- It's a thank you.
Do you clap at every bus stop, too? That's their damn job.
- I definitely say thank you when getting off the bus.
  It's honestly really sad that so many people think people doing a job is somehow not only undeserving of gratitude, but will judge other people for expressing gratitude.
- No but I clap at performances where it's their job.
- If my bus ride is 14 hours in one direction, you're damn right I'm clapping. Though it's not entirely for the pilot, it's for being allowed to move freely again.
- I do thank the bus driver when I get out
- I mean, I would if the bus was up a few miles above the road for a couple of hours and landed safely.
Honesty half the time I just wish the plane crashed during landing and mofos clapping at my misery is just rubbing salt in the wound 😭😭
- Buddy, are you okay?

We might have had a chance, except she then grabbed her personal bag and rushed to the front of the plane as we were pulling into the gate, taking up precious space as others attempted to empty the overhead bins.

That's when I knew her penis was even smaller than mine.

Child marriage is illegal where I live, so I don't have to worry about this

After closing three posts in a row where I wanted to call bullshit and insult stupid opinions (which wouldn't have helped anyway), this one made me laugh. Thank you! I needed something to kick-start a good mood before I start my day.

Also, fuck clappers. Especially at movie theaters. None of the people who worked on the movie can hear you.

Woah, wait, if it's that or go to America, I'm staying in Bora Bora.

Is this rated worse than getting the Clap from her?

Sometimes humor isn't based on reality.
- Also sometimes humour is funny, not always, unfortunately ¯(ツ)/¯
The world is cruel sometimes, and people don't think their actions have consequences. A longtime friend of mine lucked into a loving, supportive partner, and out of the blue asked me to take her -- even said please like it was some mundane favor. Not sure if she took my advice and left, but hope she's doing OK.