According to a recent CNET post, flights within the European Union may soon be able to provide mobile phone access, limited only during take off and landing. Calls made would be charged at roaming rates, with profits split between the airline and the mobile base (which could be instead on all planes) operator.
The biggest limitation to this service: service blackouts when flying over airspace not regulated for in-flight mobile calls.
Here’s the thing, just because we can think up a product or service, doesn’t necessarily mean we need to go ahead and implement it.
Hailing from the East Coast, I can tell you about countless train trips from Philadelphia to NJ while in college. Most memorable is the trip in which a businessman spent the whole 90+ minutes of my leg of the trip on the phone as if he was the only person in the train car. My guess is that his boss would likely not have been thrilled that this man was announcing details of business arrangements and proposals to anyone within earshot, but that’s just me.
On planes we already have to contend with excessive delays, screaming babies, kids kicking our chairs from behind, the person in front of you that decides to recline right into your lap for the full flight, and flight attendants who violate travelers’ first amendment rights by making travelers change their shirts when the text offends the sensibilities of that flight attendant.
I don’t know that I can handle anyone on the phone for the duration of a cross country or international flight. I shouldn’t be privy to confidential business deals or the details of invasive medical procedures I’m too young to even want to begin thinking about or someone’s itinerary upon reaching their destination.
Surely exceptions should be made for those traveling to reach a medical emergency, but what else is that important while in flight that can’t wait a few hours?
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