EU About Ready To Allow Phone Calls While Flying

from the let-the-airlines-decide dept

Thu, Oct 18th 2007 11:46pm — Mike Masnick

While the US government has basically decided not to allow mobile phone calls from airplanes due to complaints from people worried about sitting next to people who are too chatty, the EU seems to be taking a more reasonable approach. Recognizing that the technology problems with calling from airplanes have basically been solved, the EU is ready to let airlines decide for themselves how they want to handle the issue. In other words, rather than having the government decree that people shouldn't suffer sitting next to half a conversation, why not let the market decide? If people are really annoyed by it, then airlines can simply advertise themselves as "mobile-phone free" or set up "mobile-phone free" sections.

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Filed Under: airplanes, in-flight voice, mobile phones

27 Comments

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Eric the Red, 19 Oct 2007 @ 12:12am

"let airlines decide for themselves"... riiiiight.
Let me tell you brother, if you say 'basically' as much in real life as you did in this post and I ever find myself next to you on the plane while you're chatting, you'll be testing just how strong the vacuum suction in airplane toilets is... with your face.
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Michael Long, 19 Oct 2007 @ 12:20am

Compromise with TEXT
Allow SMS/text messaging only. No voice. Then we can have peace and quiet, and corporate business bozos who're afraid to be out of touch for an hour or so can still communicate with their underlings with their crackberries.
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ipanema, 19 Oct 2007 @ 12:52am

I'm in for a seating arrangement - those who prefer usage of mobile phones will be in one section. The chatty ones should have a special place - outside. Open air, al fresco, chatting on cloud nine on an aeroplane's wings. If it's long haul flight, they should be tied to a parachute, eject. :)

Seriously, I welcome this.
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ipanema, 19 Oct 2007 @ 12:55am

I'm in for a seating arrangement - those who prefer usage of mobile phones will be in one section. The chatty ones should have a special place - outside. Open air, al fresco, chatting on cloud nine on an aeroplane's wings. If it's long haul flight, they should be tied to a parachute, eject. :)

Seriously, I welcome this.
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Ralph Jung, 19 Oct 2007 @ 1:08am

Pay for the Privilege of not sitting next to them
Any comfort aspect that is currently part of flying can be turned into a money opportunity: it has already started with charging for luggage (per suitcase), headphones, meals etc. In addition to charging horrendous prices for mobile phone usage, I could imagine certain airlines to also start charging for the privilege of sitting in a mobile-free "Quiet Zone" (maybe also kid-free?), as some of them are already doing with their seat reservations. For instance, Aer Lingus charges €3 to €15 for reserving certain seats.
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This isn't my name., 19 Oct 2007 @ 3:38am

As long as the airlines also change their policies to allow me to comment on and generally mock the conversations I hear over phones without being kicked off the flight/blacklisted, I don't really care.

Laughing loudly at someone's phone conversation generally gets them to be quiet. Either that, or gets you stabbed. I'm willing to run the risk.
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Devil's Advocate, 19 Oct 2007 @ 3:47am

"why not let the market decide"

Becasue that worked so well worldwide with regards to smoking?
What we've learned from that little exercise in free market mentality is that the people suffering from second hand smoking evantually come to terms with the fact that everywhere they go they will find themselves next to smokers and the few places that decided to advertise being "smoke free" discovered just how good to business that is.
It wasn't until it became against the law in some countries that people stopped smoking - and even then there are plenty of countries where it's illegal but nobody cares.

I'm having enough fun sitting next to someone on the train who's chatting away on the phone (while I'm clearly trying to sleep). On a 12 hour trans-atlantic flight? No way.
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matt, 19 Oct 2007 @ 3:58am

Re:
umm? Just because people smoke doesn't mean its everywhere. Just because people use a cell phone on an airplane doesn't mean every time you ask someone not to they're just going to do it anyway.

Also, I imagine business class using cellphones would be more likely than the casual person .
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Ferin, 19 Oct 2007 @ 4:55am

Let the Airline Passengers decide
Let's just sit all the cell phone users in the emergency exit rows. If they get annoying we can vote them off.
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Anonymous Coward, 19 Oct 2007 @ 5:07am

Bad, Bad idea. The less said the better.
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i welcome your abuse, 19 Oct 2007 @ 5:19am

you're all too violent
so you think talking on a cellphone its un-acceptable, but directing all the described violence is okay.

next time i sit near one of you sweat smelling americans i'll ask if the fat twat can be thrown out of the window.

you're welcome to attack me too. i'll make sure you wont fly again soon.

good luck laughing at my conversations: i'll be disgusted/amused by how ugly, fat and smelly your whole family is.
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Danny, 19 Oct 2007 @ 5:35am

Re: "let airlines decide for themselves"... riiiii
You think he's bad with the word 'basically'? Wait til you see his next post about the recording industry and count how often he uses 'content' and 'vaule'.
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Anonymous Coward, 19 Oct 2007 @ 6:36am

God bless America and its fascism! We order you not to like hearing only half of a conversation! The land of the free indeed.
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Anon, 19 Oct 2007 @ 6:40am

Re: "let airlines decide for themselves"... riiiii
Basically using the word twice is basically as bad as basically using any word twice on basically any paragraph of text.

/Or you could discuss the topic, whichever!
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Freedom of speech???, 19 Oct 2007 @ 6:53am

Re: "let airlines decide for themselves"... riiiii
"Let me tell you brother, if you say 'basically' as much in real life as you did in this post and I ever find myself next to you on the plane while you're chatting, you'll be testing just how strong the vacuum suction in airplane toilets is... with your face." Yeah, why not just advertise yourself as "Tech-dirt free". F-ing flamer.
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B, 19 Oct 2007 @ 8:23am

I'm sure the ban on mobile phones has nothing at all to do with the fact that airlines make money off of charging people to use the on board phones.

Nope. Not at all. (Note the sarcasm)
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Chuck Norris' Enemy (deceased), 19 Oct 2007 @ 8:39am

Re: "let airlines decide for themselves"... riiiii
Lets talk about your sentence.
7 uses of you (or a variation)
Plus, you used 'basically' once in your single sentence. Mike used it twice in three sentences. Your usage of basically is actually higher.
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Chuck Norris' Enemy (deceased), 19 Oct 2007 @ 8:41am

Re: Re: "let airlines decide for themselves"... ri
He never used 'vaule'.
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Ram, 19 Oct 2007 @ 9:59am

Re:
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Ram, 19 Oct 2007 @ 10:00am

Re: Let the airlines
I already hear the idiots all around me talking - on airplanes and otherwise. I'm more interested in curbing the volume of conversations on land, sea and in the air than I am in filtering out conversations that I only hear half of.
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Chronno S. Trigger, 19 Oct 2007 @ 10:58am

Re: you're all too violent
I was going to say the same thing. People don't want cell phones on planes so bad that they threaten to forcefully eject them at altitude, but the fat guy that takes up 1 1/2 seats is OK. or a crying baby, jabbering loon, guy with personal entertainment system way to loud. If you want full comfort in a plain then get your own.
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Danny, 19 Oct 2007 @ 2:15pm

Re: Re: Re: "let airlines decide for themselves"..
He has indeed not used 'value' in this post (which I clearly said) but if you're implying that Mike never uses 'value' in his post then I have to accuse you of not reading the same posts everyone else is.
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Squidly, 19 Oct 2007 @ 2:37pm

Re: Re: Just Because
"Just because people smoke doesn't mean its everywhere. Just because people use a cell phone on an airplane doesn't mean every time you ask someone not to they're just going to do it anyway."

Just because the low end of the gene pool doesn't know how to "keep their pants zipped" and control their spawn on airplanes doesnt' mean I should be subject to some brat kicking my seat and screaming the whole way either. But apparently, that's legal (d@mmit!).

Duct Tape people...Duct Tape.
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Squidly, 19 Oct 2007 @ 2:41pm

Re: Re: "let airlines decide for themselves"... ri
"Basically using the word twice is basically as bad as basically using any word twice on basically any paragraph of text."

D@mmit! Someone beat me to it!! ;-)
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Squidly, 19 Oct 2007 @ 2:49pm

Re: Ban on phones...
I remember when you could wear your headphones and listen to your CD player from the time you walked onto the plane to the time you walked off the plane.

Amazingly (sarcasm here) that didn't bring the plane down either.

Although now most airlines no longer say that it will "interfere" with communications and navigation equipment - they say something about it being for our safety. In all likelihood it's just a CYA maneuver by the airlines to ensure the would-be fulltime headphone wearer hears all safety briefings and can no longer sue the airlines for "damages" (whatever that might be). My only problem with that argument (if it were true) is...What about the deaf?
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Joe Blow, 20 Oct 2007 @ 4:42am

Ban the phoones?
Mobile phones on planes, are these people on crack?

I bet Al-Qaeda, cant wait to their mobiles on planes.
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Frequent Flyer, 21 Oct 2007 @ 9:29pm

Chatty Teenagers...?
I think the chatty teenagers are going to be the worst... My favorite flights are the ones where its quiet as a 2nd floor library, and under 3 hours. Just enough time to get some work done, or take a nap. I hate being stuck to anybody who likes to chat. Now, there's gonna be more resources to having somebody to talk to the whole time. Maybe I'll switch to the train...
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