From the flight deck folks......

Recently flown to SFO and back from LAX and on both flights was suprised at the the lack of information broadcast from the flight deck.
Like most people on here I enjoy flying and like to know the route we are taking and any landmarks we may be flying over, it was really breif going out and nothing at all coming back. Okay appreciate I can use the the skymap but usually its backed up with announcements.
What do you think, do you like to hear from the pilots or do you prefer a quiet flight.?

I think an announcement as you are at the gate awaiting to be pushed back with details of the route and an introduction from the captain and first officer
and then an update from the flight deck when you enter the hold at your destination with the latest weather and estimated time at the gate.
is a nice touch to keep you informed.

this is what has happened on my recent flights on Flybe and BA but my last flight on AF was silent from the flight deck

The reason is likely to be simple, announcements are nice to have if the flight crew have the time, they may have been managing other higher priority tasks. Also, on night flights they do try to minimize the PAs.

I agree with Chill - I always like to have that first announcement from the flight deck informing you of the details of your flight, that is one of those things that has always happened! Other than that, I wouldn't expect much else unless there was a delay!

I've generally only had the usual announcements - we will be flying at X,000 ft, flying over Scotland, Greenland then down the east coast etc etc

Had a somewhat extended one on departure from SFO once due to the route over the city

But 'if you look to your left ...' type announcements can be really irritating if (a) you are watching the film and (b) you are on the wrong side of the plane or don't have access to the windows.

I ventured onto a TOM flight this summer and was shocked by (and enjoyed) the number of announcements that were given.

On boarding we had the usual introduction, at seat belts off we had another announcement going into a lot of detail about the route, as we flew over Venice, Athens and the Greek Islands we had announcements advising us to look at of the left window for a lovely view and then at top of decent we had another detailed announcement before the usual thanks for flying. It was great and certainly made you feel like the flight deck crew cared.

Having said all of that the flight was very long for a short haul and thus they had more free time to make the announcements I feel!