People Want To Yak In The Sky
from the bring-it-on dept
There have been plenty of stories in the last few months about various tests and plans to let passengers on airplanes start using mobile phones while flying. The basic solution involves a modified cell tower attached to the plane itself, to route all the calls through that tower, rather than deal with the problem of having phones hit many, many towers within range on the ground beneath them. However, many people seem to react with horror to the idea that the person sitting next to them could be talking away on their phone the whole flight, ignoring, of course, that plenty of people talk to their neighbors on flights already. Of course, with mobile phones there are additional problems such as the "yelling" that comes with mobile phone conversations (especially in a noisy environment) and the "annoyance" of only hearing one side of the conversation (which studies have shown is more annoying, probably because the side you hear is either on or off, unlike a standard conversation which may be continuous). However, it's still likely to move forward, as a new study shows that many business travelers would make airline decisions based on whether or not they could use their mobile phones on board. To make the study more useful, though, they should ask people if they would choose to fly on certain airlines if they included a "no mobile phone yakking" section as well.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
No Subject Given
If this must go ahead, then it has to be limited to Business Class, maybe with a soundproof door between them and us Economy folk.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Not Me
It is currently bad enough before the flight and right after when the stu says "you may use your cellphones" that 50 obnoxious people start yelling into their phones at the top of their lungs.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Of Course There Are Important People And Issues
Somebody seated next to a stranger may not want to talk during the flight (I know that I don't), but having the ability to call a friend or colleague eliminates that barrier.
I also disagree with Doctor Mitch. There are plenty of people that important. Consider organ recipients -- they carry beepers now, but if the beeper goes off on a flight, you might think they'd like to call and find out what happened.
Also, restricting cell phone usage to Business Class seems wrong on two levels. First, why should only the well-heeled get to use phones? Are business users more deserving than "normal" people?
Second, many people choose Business Class to be more comfortable and actually may not want to listen to people blathering on.
I'd prefer a "no talking" section that people could request. Of course, just like smoking areas of old where smoke drifts, conversation drifts, too, so it's not a perfect solution. Maybe the airline can hand out earplugs like they pass out pillows....
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Of Course There Are Important People And Issue
With all the money airports and airlines have spent on noise cancelling technologies, it should be a pretty simple matter to install a noise dampening barrier between the cell phone area and the no-cell phone areas. They wouldn't want a total barrier, in case someone was yelling for help, but if they could reduce the volume by about 80%, it would go a long way.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Of Course There Are Important People
Near a loud person in the airport? Go sit somewhere else. In a building? Walk away. In a restaurant? Asked to be moved to another table or get up and leave.
In plane, you're stuck.
Try this on your next plane trip - start singing your favorite song (or least favorite show tune) at the top of your lungs. And keep going and going and going and going. This is freedom of expression. No one should shut you up, since you should be able to make whatever noice you want to without regard to those around you, right?
And for doctors, etc. - if something is so important that they can't be away from a phone for a few hours, they shouldn't be traveling.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Of Course There Are Important People
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
My Bad
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
No ringtones
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Don't worry
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
great
[ link to this | view in chronology ]