That describes the current situation in lots of everyday setups, like waiting room in a clinic, bus, train…

Sometimes I wish the world was more like Japan in that regard…

Yes, which is why I never get on an airplane without headphones/earbuds. Seems simple enough to solve this problem at the receiving end.

If you are lucky enough that you can be in comfort and noise-isolated from earbuds or headphones, I envy you.

Might look weird but shrug.

You just accidentally made the case for WFH :)

There's no law that says somebody can't take a phone call or a conference on a bus. A plane is just a bus in a sky ("public transportation")

Are they being kind of rude/selfish? Sure. Are you being kind of rude to say "you can't do this thing you want to do because it's an inconvenience to me"?

But the pleasure it brings the two of us might be outweighed by the displeasure of the other 500 people on the plane.

There likely is a rule about being disruptive on a bus (or airplane), and it is within the law to enforce those rules.

Many more people do sleep on planes than busses.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airfone