AR385 From Mexico, joined Nov 2003, 2283 posts, RR: 15 Reply 1, posted (9 months 2 weeks 2 days 21 hours ago) and read 778 times:
The thought of having someone next to me yapping on his cell for the duration of a transcon is something I don't cherish. I hope strict guidelines for its use are agreed upon and enforced.
DocLightning From United States, joined Nov 2005, 3650 posts, RR: 13 Reply 2, posted (9 months 2 weeks 2 days 17 hours ago) and read 721 times:
My view is that they just need to make it expensive. That should stop the yappage. If an executive really needs to make a call, then she can pay £2/min for it.
Mauiman31 From United States, joined Sep 2007, 250 posts, RR: 0 Reply 5, posted (9 months 2 weeks 2 days 3 hours ago) and read 569 times:
Quoting UAL777UK (Reply 4): I will go berserk on a a flight If I have to listen to someone rabbiting on their mobile.
Absolutely. Love my mobile and all the convenience that comes with if for work and leisure. It amuses me everytime when I hear/see the person who immediately turns their mobile on and make a call(s), the very second tires hit the runway. And they leave this message - "Just wanted you to know I am on the plane and just landed at. . ." Then if they don't get anyone to pick up, they desperately keep dialing till they reach someone. When they finally do, most often the conversation is not about anything urgent -- but just an excuse to chat. Makes me grin everytime.
Farnborough24 From United Kingdom, joined Nov 2007, 167 posts, RR: 0 Reply 6, posted (9 months 2 weeks 2 days 3 hours ago) and read 557 times:
I don't know if it'll be that bad-if you go on a long distance train journey, they tend to be pretty quiet anyway, only a couple of people within earshot perhaps on a phone at most. I think the costs will stop many doing it unless totally essential, and once you've factored in engine noise and the fact that you may well be using IFE, I think many people are seeing it as being worse than it will actually be. What could be done I suppose would be a 'phone zone' (see what I did with the rhyming there?God I'm good :p) by a door or galley where people could go to make a call without disturbing other passengers so much.
Fruitbat From United Kingdom, joined Dec 2006, 210 posts, RR: 3 Reply 7, posted (9 months 2 weeks 2 days 1 hour ago) and read 517 times:
Quoting GBan (Reply 3): Quoting Fruitbat (Thread starter):
Tried a search but found nothing similar / recent.
Emirates Launches World's First Mobile Phone Sys (by EK156 Mar 20 2008 in Civil Aviation)
With respect this thread is about the fact that a major European telecoms regulator (OFCOM) has approved the use of mobiles during flight and the subsequent implications of that decision, not about an airline making the technology available. Having the capability is nothing without the (official) permission to use it.
Cheers
Weaseling out of things is important to learn. It's what separates us from the animals ... except the weasel.
AFGMEL From Australia, joined Jul 2007, 387 posts, RR: 0 Reply 8, posted (9 months 2 weeks 1 day 23 hours ago) and read 483 times:
I for one will avoid any airline that allows the use on flights. Yes, I made the choice to fly somewhere, but I did not chose to hear some random person yapping on in my hearing. It's painful enough to have to encounter people that bore and pain me in general. This will be several degrees worse.
OA260 From Ireland, joined Nov 2006, 11825 posts, RR: 22 Reply 9, posted (9 months 2 weeks 1 day 23 hours ago) and read 476 times:
BMI will run trials on the LHR-DME route and see how it goes. I think it should be a rule that all mobiles are put on silent mode . When people send SMS and it beeps all the time its so annoying. I would not hesitate to tell someone to put their phone on silent if it was constantly going off or tell them to carry their conversation on at the back of the A/C if they were excessively using it and were loud.
DocLightning From United States, joined Nov 2005, 3650 posts, RR: 13 Reply 10, posted (9 months 1 week 6 days 2 hours ago) and read 394 times:
I'm thinking about the train/plane analogy here. So let's think about a train:
1) You can easily get up and go to the end of the car to have a conversation without disturbing your neighbor too much (seat pitch on most trains is along the lines of 36" or more, making it easy for the window passenger to get up without the aisle passenger having to move).
2) There are enough cars to have "no-phone" cars
3) There's usually not a huge amount of background noise, requiring less shouting into the phone.
That said, most people didn't talk much on their phones when I was on the Madrid-Barcelona or NYC-Boston trains. The big thing I liked was the ability to use my cellular broadband card for my laptop on the NYC-Boston train.
On a plane:
1) You are packed in like sardines and can't get up without disturbing your neighbor.
2) There is only one cabin, not enough room for a "no-phone" car.
3) It's noisy, I can only imagine that you'd have to shout into your phone.
I think that easy communication is just a matter of time, and that it will probably be cellphones. However, let's hope that a strong sense of manners sets in first. One can only hope, in vain though it might be.
MMEPHX From United States, joined Mar 2004, 390 posts, RR: 0 Reply 11, posted (9 months 1 week 5 days 18 hours ago) and read 340 times:
I wonder if we will see an increase in 'air rage' once cellphones on planes become more widespread? The sheer inane banality of most conversations "we've just landed", "we're just at the gate", "we're just getting off the plane" (I've heard that sequence on more than one occasion) makes me wonder how these people survived prior to a cellphone, could anyone ever find where they were?
I hope airlines make it expensive to call a) justify the added expense of the onboard equipment and weight. b) if there is ever a service that should be charged as extra to the ticket price, this is the one! An absolute luxury that is not an essential part of air service. c) keep the cellphone addicts quiet for an hour or so and the rest of us free from having to listen to the details of last nights movie/dinner/argument/family trauma/trivial event etc.
PiedmontINT From United States, joined Jul 2005, 297 posts, RR: 0 Reply 12, posted (9 months 1 week 5 days 16 hours ago) and read 302 times:
Could you imagine being in the back of a DC-9 or in a turboprop and some fool is trying to scream into their cell phone the whole flight? I can, and it is making my blood pressure go up just thinking about it. Seriously, if I was stuck next to somebody that felt the need to tell me all about how loud the 747 (actually MD-82) they are riding on is at the top of their lungs, I would be finding the nearest emergency exit D.B. Cooper style if you know what I mean. That is if I dont jack them in the side of the head to get their attention first.
EKGOLD From Australia, joined May 2005, 176 posts, RR: 4 Reply 13, posted (9 months 1 week 5 days 14 hours ago) and read 273 times:
I was on a flight from Dubai to Casablanca yesterday and the passenger next to me spent about an hour on the inseat phone conducting business. I cant say he bothered me one bit. The ambient noise of the aircraft, combined with your headphones for the IFE will make this a bit of a storm in a teacup. I may be wrong but i dont think the disturbance will be as bad as everyone is making out. Same with the text messages. The ambient noise in the aircraft will drown out most message receipt tones.
Thaiflyer From Thailand, joined Oct 2007, 24 posts, RR: 0 Reply 14, posted (9 months 1 week 5 days 11 hours ago) and read 243 times:
The requirement to put the phone on silent mode sounds nice in that but doesn't work very well i'm afraid.
People forget to put the phone on silent and off course they only find out when it is to late.
All around you will hear " sorry, sorry " when they start calling before putting there phone on silent.
And off course shouting in the phone because the other end is so far away that they don't understand you so you have to shout.
The best solution ? make it as expensive as possible. ( at least 25 USD a minute )
Aisak From Spain, joined Aug 2005, 737 posts, RR: 9 Reply 15, posted (9 months 1 week 5 days 11 hours ago) and read 231 times:
I said this on previous threads and I won't give up (it sounds like a threat )
There are ALREADY phones on most aircrafts. I don't know any widebody without satelite phones by the exits. Most Biz seats have an integrated phone and I flew a NW DC9?? in 1999 from DTW to RDU which had a phone on the middle seat headrest each row!!
What on Earth makes you think a cellphone call will be cheaper than these phone which CURRENTLY nobody uses???
Bramble From Ireland, joined Apr 2007, 606 posts, RR: 3 Reply 16, posted (9 months 1 week 5 days 11 hours ago) and read 219 times:
Quoting EKGOLD (Reply 13): The ambient noise in the aircraft will drown out most message receipt tones.
But then you have the teenager/early twenties full volume novelty message tone to deal with. Irish phone manners are atrocious, I can see this being problematic on flights out of DUB.
The idea of having all pax use silent mode enforced by the crew would definitely be needed. I think cost will deter most people for anything longer than the novelty "guess where I am ?" calls. Many voting/gaming lines are already EUR 1.5/STG 1 per min. I think at least doubling this will be an ancillary earner for the airlines,after all hotels charge high prices for their phones.As stated about, on long haul flights IFE should make the noise no more annoying than having a loud couple or group beside you.
Quoting Aisak (Reply 15): What on Earth makes you think a cellphone call will be cheaper than these phone which CURRENTLY nobody uses???
I think the novelty of using your mobile will make this tech popular. Yes many aircraft have had seatback phones for a long time. But this phones were very expensive,needing a credit card swipe and there were there before the mobile phone mania hit mainstram culture fully. When I started flying doing a longhaul duty meant being out of contact for 2-4 days,now we all have tri-band phones and are never alone. Nowadays approx 90% of people have mobiles phones and are accustomed to being in constant contact with others. Just look on a bus,how teenagers/early twenties people constantly check their phone to see if they have got a message!
People will use the mobile onboard facility if it exists. When people sit down for long periods they get bored and texting your friends is something that will occupy the younger pax on flights...........that is until their credit runs out!
[Edited 2008-03-31 03:02:41]
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tearbringer/..........still waiting to try out ei-duz
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