Porn on a plane OK, say 20 per cent in Vietnamese poll

The news website VNExpress conducted the poll after reporting that two Vietnamese businessmen had to be ordered to stop watching a porn film on a Vietnam Airlines flight from Hanoi to Paris last month when their female French seatmate complained.

"The sound and picture of the movies were so disturbing that a French girl sitting on the same row had to raise her voice," the article said, adding that the men refused to turn off the video until security officers intervened.

The website published the story as an oddity, but an online poll it ran with Thursday's article seemed to indicate the men's behavior wasn't surprising to some Vietnamese frequent fliers.

The poll asked: "What do you normally do on long-haul flights?" and by Thursday afternoon 2,712 readers had responded.

Watching "sex films" came in second with 20 per cent of the respondents, while reading books and newspapers was most popular with 47 per cent. Watching "decent films" came in third with 15 per cent.

Vietnam Airlines spokesman Trinh Ngoc Thanh would not comment specifically on the incident, saying he didn't know the details but said he wasn't sure if the passengers had violated airline policy.

"Vietnam Airlines doesn't have any regulation on what kinds of movies passengers can watch on the plane with their computers," Thanh told Deutsche Presse-Agenture (dpa) by telephone Thursday.

"Airlines do require passengers to turn off mobile phones and other electronic devices during take-off and landing," he added.//(Deutsche Presse-Agentur/DPA)