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Mobile Phone Use Soon To Be Allowed On European Flights

Posted by Soulskill on from the for-questionable-values-of-"soon" dept.

New submitter jchevali writes: The BBC reports that mobile phone use on European flights is soon to be allowed. This follows official safety agency findings that their use on the aircraft really poses no risk. Details on the implementation and the timeline for changes will depend on each individual airline.

6 of 96 comments (clear)

  1. I'd pay for a non-phone flight by scsirob · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Having the screaming kids or the fat, sweaty guy next to you is bad enough. Last thing I want is 200 people yapping on their mobile for several hours. Time to start 'Quiet Airlines', no-go for kids and phones.

    --
    To Terminate, or not to Terminate, that's the question - SCSIROB
  2. Wrong... there is a risk by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    While the last time, and only times, I flew was in 1999, my opinion should still count.

    The risk... annoyed passengers at people chattering away on their phones in a sardine like environment.

    Allow times to make calls for pick-ups and whatnot. Or limit calls to 5 minutes for the whole flight duration. Have authorized time periods and whatnot.

  3. Hopefully data only by Jack+Malmostoso · · Score: 4, Insightful

    As long as voice isn't enabled I don't have a problem with that. I recently tried wifi on a long haul flight and was quite impressed with the speed of the service. I can see how people might want to have data connection up up in the air (albeit one has to see the extortionate roaming prices airlines will come up with!).

    But voice? No thank you. It would quickly become a safety issue because passengers would assault each other.

    1. Re:Hopefully data only by rsmith-mac · · Score: 4, Insightful

      From which uncivilized backwater do you hail that teaches its citizens to assault nearby people for having a conversation?

      The same one that pitches airline seats just 30 inches apart. The rules of common courtesy tend to grind to a halt once you're inside someone's personal space, be it physical or acoustic.

  4. Glad this is happening, shame it took so long by jedrek · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I'm glad this is happening, and it's shame it took so long - or was ever introduced, really. Stuff like this hurts the public's perception of science. Everybody knew this was bullshit.

    There are about 28,000 flights in Europe every day of the year and about 1.2 cell phones for every European. I doubt I've been on a plane in the past 5 years where every passenger over the age of 15 didn't have a phone. I like to think that I'm pretty good about turning my phone off (to airplane mode at least), but I've still managed to forget once during the ~30 flights I've been on in the past 4-5 years. Extrapolate that out, and it's obvious that if a phone could affect a flight, we'd be seeing cases every day. Terrorists would sneak phones onto planes to take them down.

    Your average Joe sees "science" being used to support limits on cell phones, they know they're bullshit, so the next time they hear another "science-based" bit of info that goes against their comfort, they'll just ignore it too. Why would they bother, "science" is just BS anyway.

  5. Profit by hedleyroos · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I'm buying stock in companies that manufacture noise cancellation headphones. Last thing I want is someone in close proximity talking on a phone.