After talking to Emirates last year about onboard mobile phone use, I said that I was “less averse” to the idea. Now I’ve moved even further. I’ve decided to take a stand. Mobile phones should be allowed on airplanes. I know, you hate the idea, right? But there’s a lot of good that can come out of it, and I think that outweighs the bad.
I spoke with several communications providers at the Airline Passenger Experience Association show last month, and there was a common theme out there regarding mobile phones. Use of these devices in the air is increasing worldwide, and the US is quickly becoming the only place around to still want to keep their use banned. Now that mobiles are seeing more widespread use globally, we can finally judge whether the fears in the US are merited or not.
The reality is that it hasn’t been much of a problem at all so far, and that’s probably due to the rate structure. The way it’s set up, you can think of airplanes as a separate country in the mobile world. Just as you would roam when you go to any other country, you roam when you get on an airplane. If you have an international plan, you would be able to make calls, receive text messages, and surf the web as your plan allows.
And a lot of people do just that. If you need to tell someone you’re late or change the spot where you want to meet, a quick text message will do the trick. Or a quick email can do the same and it won’t cost much. And yes, if you need to actually call Aunt Bessie to tell her where to bring the Cadillac to meet you, you can do that as well, but roaming charges can ramp up quickly. So it’ll be a quick conversation.
Everyone’s worst nightmare is getting stuck next to the valley girl who giggles and screams with her friend on the other line throughout the flight. That’s just not happening and it’s not likely to happen. (If it does, her parents will never let her out of the house again.) Yes, I’m sure that at some point this will happen, but social pressure and flight attendant intervention can solve that problem (along with determined staring at close range).
You’re far more likely to get stuck next to a gregarious seatmate who wants to talk your ear off all flight anyway. Phones just aren’t proving to be a problem. That could change if rates plunged, but I don’t see that happening in the near future.
But if that were to happen, the airline doesn’t even have to allow phone calls at all. Look at British Airways, for example. Using the system from OnAir, with whom I spoke at the show, on their A318 flights between New York and London/City, you can send text messages or surf the web using your mobile network, but you can’t make phone calls. They’ve turned that functionality off.
Now, the US itself does make things difficult in that most of the world is centering on the GSM standard for inflight while many in the US use CDMA. That’s something that can be addressed, but not until it’s made legal to use your phone in the first place. I’m convinced that there is more benefit to be had than there is potential harm to be made. Let’s open up the rules and see what happens.
[Original Photo via Flicker user Kai Hendry]
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58 Comments on "Mobile Phones Should be Allowed on Airplanes"
You might consider a modifier before “Americans.” Quite the broad brush you’re verbally painting with…
Here’s one reason against:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_phones_on_aircraft#Cell_tower_channel_re-use
With these systems phones onboard don’t connect to towers on the ground, the onboard systems (and phones) are only switched on only above a certain altitude. The onboard system is effectively an onboard tower, and it commands all phones onboard to connect to it at their lowest power.
If you are going to talk on your phone in flight, and basically force me to listen to your conversation… then I’m going to read my book out loud….
Good one! Be sure to read out only every other sentence to fully give the experience of “half the story” to your seat mate.
The easiest way to handle boorish people who want to have conversations in public places is to join in on their conversations. Ask questions, give advice, and eventually the person will hang up in self defense.
I am completely with Brett on this one. The banning of cellphones is a silly rule. Will some people abuse the freedom to make calls while in flight? Yes. However, the vast majority of people will not. And if you are next to someone that is talking, do as Nab suggests. It really works well.
I approve SMS usage with the ringer muted. No voice calls, no loud obnoxious “new text has arrived” ring tones.
(of course I realize no one cares about what I approve)
The question is – how much are the airlines/providers going to charge for this service, and is it going to turn into another in-seat-phone or GoGo situation where usage is very limited?
I fear it might not be many people talking on their cell phones at first, due to high costs, but like everything else, I would assume the costs would lower over time, allowing more people to talk.
I think there is too much money involved for airlines and cell phone providers not to jump on this sooner or later…so I guess we will all see if Americans can behave as well as the rest of the world.
David
David the answer is no, Americans can’t behave like the rest of the world. The ‘it’s all about me’ generation doesn’t know how.
I am not only afraid of people being rude on the phone, but also others being rude to the people who are on the phone, causing a real fun scene.
David
You are 100% right on this one, as one of the people on a company plan I never pay attention to what my rate is anywhere in the world. And if my boss finds out that I can talk while on a flight I will be invited to meetings and expected to contribute. To just hope that everyone behaves and plays nice is naive.
Just to clarify, by “my company”, I mean “the company I work for”. I don’t mean to claim I’m any sort of bigwig.
Excellent point!
“””””And while many times there is one or two loudmouths on a plane you can tune them out because it is a natural conversation. Phone conversations are unnatural, thus more noticeable, and more difficult to tune out.””””””
That is so true, you don’t hear 2 or more people having a conversation, but that one person having a one sided cell phone conversation can be heard loud and clear.
Let’s not forget that, due to the background noise on aircraft, people will be talking even louder than normal into their phones – possibly louder still if they have to counteract that other object-of-air-travel-hate, crying babies.
Do you really think that if the US airlines were able to provide this service that the flying public with zero manners would speak softly or for a minute? Sorry Cranky, I still disagree.
I strongly oppose the use of cell phones on airplanes. I despise hearing other people chat endlessly, and get enough of it just sitting in waiting areas. Please! I want to read or sleep or work on a plane, not listen to other people’s conversations. True, considerate people will abstain, but think about your conversation hearing range. In a 3 X 3 seat arrangement, one thoughtless person out of 18-30 in his/her voice-detection range, who carries on a conversation, will be bothering perhaps 29 other people.
Totally against it…!!! It’s bad enough having to endure the odor of gas passed by various and sundry thoughtless seatmates. Add the talking gas to the mix and put me in the cargo hold…
That’s a good question and point. Even if the talking doesn’t annoy you, having to hear all the ring tones would be quite annoying.
Nick I know when I used the phase ‘me’ generation I did not state an age group. Today the ‘me’ generation refers to many people as people today just think of themselves and have the ‘rules don’t apply to me’ attitude. Young or old so many people these days don’t think about others or have basic manners.
Please. I’ve been a flight attendant for almost 25 years and in that time the climate of our job and responsibilities have increased dramatically while our pay has decreased relatively. We work with skeleton crews and for much longer duty days. To add communications monitor to our expanded litany of babysitting chores would just add insult to injury. I think most of us would agree that people traveling these days, domestically, shouldn’t ever be left alone with a cell phone and certainly never on a plane.
Amen, Robin! You all have it hard enough as it is…let alone having to deal with crazy cell phone users…
Cranky – You’re wrong. Period. You often have strong convincing arguments, but on this one I think you’ve earned your own award. ;)
We used to have smoking or nonsmoking on planes, so now maybe it should be phone or no phone section. One will need to be a sealed sound proof area. Makes the double desk A380 look more attractive of an airplane. One deck for phone users and the other for nonphone users……LOL
Go for it Brett! It has been a lonely place taking a stand in favor of in-flight calls. Glad you joined the ranks of those in favor of in-flight calls. It never used to be a problem and won’t be in future either.
Last time I was in an airport lounge, I learned about a lady’s gastric problems and a gentleman’s million dollar deal. For some reason, people talk loudly and in public on cell phones. The reason may be that the poor feedback on the other end makes them think they have to speak more loudly.
Instead, on airline flights they should be able to use visual communications such as the Blackberry or text messages.
I’m against it. I’ve noticed that the length and loudness of cell phone calls seem to be inversely related to their importance. Give a yahoo an inch …
CF,
I normally agree with you, but not this time. Sadly, civility is already quite low on airplanes. Allowing cell phones on board will allow the most boorish on board to make bad flights even more unbearable.
JM
I might not like the idea of cell phones on airlines, but you are totally right — the government shouldn’t be regulating it. I mean if an airline provides it and people pay for it or are willing to put up with it, then great!
David
Cranky: this should explain everyone’s comments:
Funy, Cranky, how the blog post doesn’t really seem to talk about government regulation…
Absolutely no phone calls – it’s about the only place to avoid people. Elevators are not even safe anymore. On the plane people talking on them after the main cabin door is closed – talking or texting and “not getting caught” most of the time – it’s all about me, me, me and my I I I phone – forget it, turn them off.
I think many people wouldn’t actually end up using this. I just got back from a trip to Canada, and while I used my phone as an organizational tool, and I got on the internet with it when it was in the range of WiFi, I didn’t use its voice or texting features, they just cost too much.
Hi Cranky, normally I wouldn’t leave a comment to say the same thing that a zillion others have said but I’m so vehemently opposed to this idea that I can’t be quiet….
I personally hate the idea. I used to fly Emirates a lot, and they have mobile capability on some of their flights. I was on one flight where the guy behind me was jabbing on for hours….its was a totally miserable experience.
Your personal comfort is not more important than freedom. We need less government intervention in our lives, not more. When you think there ought to be a law for something, there probably shouldn’t.
If enough people are serious about “quiet” flights, the market will serve the need. If not, it certainly wasn’t important enough to legislate.
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One thing that came to mind for me; I have a Blackberry which has UMA functionality. Now what happens, if an airline allows wifi on their flight but not gsm connection. I could (providing the router is compatible) connect my phone to the wifi and still be able to make calls using uma. How would they necessarily get around this?
I’d expect that they block SIP which is what most VoIP runs over. UMA doesn’t seem to be the same, but I’d expect it has its own ports that it runs over.
Another concern is the lower bandwidth combined with multiple users could result in excess jitter and packet loss on the line making it unusable for VoIP without being prioritized, which I’m sure the airline doesn’t do..