An article on CNN writes of passengers trapped on an Airtran airplane for 10 hours before taking off for Orlando from Colombus, Ohio.  No one would argue that this is not something that should be happening at this point and the flying public should take issue with an airline that can’t competently make a decision to cancel a flight after keeping passengers on board for just a few hours. 

If airlines do not want a passenger bill of rights passed in Congress, they must clearly communicate to their staff that this kind of event is both avoidable and irresponsible.

Filed under: Airline News by ajax
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Update:  For those interested, the Hang Up Act (as reported out of House committee) can be viewed in its entirety HERE.

The Runway Girl has posted THIS entry to her blog on the subject of in-flight use of cell phones.   Mary Kirby (aka Runway Girl) is apparently distressed over the “Hang Up Act” rolling around Congress and decries it as  “silly”  and is apparently in solid support of the Passenger Communications Coalition which is comprised of members she often writes about.

Silly eh?  I don’t know about that.  If I were an airline, I would want to avoid use of cell phones on aircraft in the US as much as possible.  Adopting a libertarian attitude and comparing what is going on in the Middle East and Europe isn’t a very unbiased outlook either.  US Airlines fly crowded, uncomfortable flights that are often late, understaffed with a minimum of flight crew and which only serve to antagonize passengers already.   European and Middle Eastern airlines fly in different cultures that set a very different scene for the use of cell phones and how that might be perceived as a personal space violation when compared to the United States and Canada. 

Allowing in flight chatty people to conduct phone conversations seated among other passengers under those conditions is a good idea?  Really?  Who manages disruptive people abusing that privilege?  The flight attendants?  Really?  The pilots? 

While I do agree that many would likely not abuse such a privilege, I fear what happens both to the perpetrator and the victims when some guy refuses to lower his voice and stop disrupting passengers when asked to.  Aircraft here in the US are already on a short fuse with temperaments.  As an airline, I really wouldn’t want to invite more opportunity for conflicts and I certainly wouldn’t want to add to my staff’s list of things to control.

Add in-flight connectivity to the internet all you want.  Allow text messages and web browsing via cell phones all you want.  Be very careful about introducing something that has the potential to violate personal space such as cell phone calls.  Cell phone calls and internet connectivity are not the same thing and to treat them as such is folly.  And recognize that different cultures might well allow for the successful adoption of new technologies in one place and mandate against them in another place.

Filed under: Airline News, Airline Service by ajax
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