Cellphones On Airplanes
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.
The Hang Up Act is silly but it’s more than that, it’s bad legislation. Under the bill, wired communications, such as those previously provided by now defunct Verizon Airfone, would be permitted. But mobile phones and wireless VoIP would not. What’s more, trials on those European and Middle Eastern carriers have proven that passengers are rather responsible about their calls (because it isn’t cheap). Plus, an airline can put various strictures in place (such as turning off the system during periods of flight).
The Hang Up Act has the intent to prevent capricious and disruptive behavior on a cell phone. While I agree that allowing an exception for “installed on aircraft” phone communications is unwise, that doesn’t make the entire bill “silly”.
I have actually read the entire text of the bill reported out of committee, by the way. (See my update to this post.)
My greater point(s) are:
1) Conditions here in the US are not the same conditions under which those European and Middle Eastern trials have been conducted under.
2) That such open use is very difficult for flight crew to regulate in the absence of law and, furthermore, taxes flight crew already too busy in most cases to do their job.
3) That there are differences in the cultural approach to using personal cell phones and those cultural differences should not be ignored. (Example: It is considered highly inappropriate to use a cell phone on a city bus in Chinese cultures while it is not here. In the US you cannot hardly get a person talking loudly in the line at Starbucks to self regulate and make their order.)
4) That given the conditions inside US aircraft for most passengers, such use, even relatively restrained and innocent, could consitute a violation of personal space and be a flash point for conflict.
While I do not think I was clear about this, I do not necessarily think the Hang Up Act is the best legislation either. But I do think some regulation is an excellent idea and I don’t think the Hang Up Act is silly.
Welcome to the blog and I genuinely appreciate the comment!
I genuinely appreciate the dialog! But the Hang Up Act merely prolongs the inevitable. American passengers will fly those European and Middle Eastern carriers and realize that A) This is pretty nifty. I can call the missus during a delayed flight and let her know not to leave for the airport yet. B) I can call reservations and change to another connecting flight if my current flight is delayed. C) If given simple etiquette rules from the get-go, folks will follow them (except for the chatty teenager…in that case the stink-eye from other pax is useful).
I think cell phones are great and even no longer have a landline in my home. I understand etiquette and I would even say that those paying attention to etiquette are on the upswing in the US, at least to some degree.
However, in the past 15 years I have observed at least 4 onboard incidents of near physical violence over someone reclining their seat into someone else’s knees. What happens when a business traveler in coach attempts to re-arrange his day from his seat to the consternation of the passengers next to him and that business traveler pops off telling them to leave him alone since he paid for his ticket and he is entitled to use his phone?
The short version is that the FA’s are summoned and now have to adjudicate something that is A) not illegal and B) subjective in that it is the surrounding people who judge that intrusion.
Quite honestly I would support voice calls on airplanes *if* there was legislation granting the regulation of its use to the flight crew and *if* I thought US airlines had the courage to set strict guidelines for its use on their aircraft.
However, I have no confidence in US airlines being able to do that. This is a group who, as a whole, can’t summon the courage to enforce its own boarding rules most of the time because they risk “offending” a frequent flier.
What’s more, passengers can take care of their needs via text messaging and/or through the web just as conveniently and without the potential of causing conflicts.
It isn’t the chatty teenager that concerns me. Far from it. It’s the 6′ 2″, 270lbs businessman or the cocky high powered woman executive who gets belligerant that I’m worried about. The frequent flier in this country has an unparalled sense of entitlement and is rarely restrained in expressing it.
If I had confidence in airlines’ and their ability to self regulate, I would probably not feel as I do. However, there is no evidence whatsoever that points to airlines’ doing so beyond lip service.
SMS, yes… Email, yes… VoiceCom? Oh, *HELL* no.
-R
As someone who travels over 200 days per year, the absolute last thing i want or need when i schlump in to my seat at the end of a long day is to hear some self-important idiot trying to make himself sound even more important by yelling in to his phone. Just yesterday on a train, I overheard a man breaking up with his girlfriend over his cell. He appeared to be talking loudly enough for the entire car to hear his conversation on purpose. Don’t think for a moment people like me will sit by quietly while people disrupt my rest or sleep on a 4 1/2 flight to Seattle. It will lead to confrontations.