Millions of flyers on foreign airlines have used OnAir’s mobile phone service from planes. (Photo: SITA OnAir)
Changing technology that enables travelers to make voice calls over in-flight Wi-Fi systems has led the Transportation Department to take another look and reignite the debate about voice calls in the air.
Inflight cell phone for voice calls use is already permitted by many airlines around the world. Even highly regulated Europe relaxed its ban on flight calls way back in 2008. None have reported any of the mayhem predicted by pundits and politicians.
The current ban on in-flight phone calls was issued by the Federal Communications Commission, not DOT – and that decision was based on issues of interference with navigation systems and ground-based cell phone networks. Today, most aircraft have Wi-Fi technology that is increasingly switching from ground-based to satellite-based communication, and it permits flyers to make calls through Wi-Fi – and that is not covered by the FCC ban.
DOT said it has started a rulemaking proceeding that would not only require airlines to inform customers “from the beginning of the process” (i.e. at the time of booking) when voice calls are permitted on their flights, but also seeks to determine whether the agency should simply ban voice calls outright.
Emirates Airline does not have a problem with passengers using their mobile phones in flight (Photo: OnAir)
And this rulemaking has nothing to do with safety issues – it’s all about consumer protection.
“DOT believes that allowing voice calls, without providing adequate notice, would be an unfair and deceptive practice,” the agency said. “As technologies advance, the cost of making voice calls may decrease and the quality of voice call service may increase, leading to a higher prevalence of voice calls and a greater risk of passenger harm… The Department believes that consumers would be unfairly surprised and harmed if they learned only after the purchase of a ticket (or, worse, after boarding the aircraft) that the carrier permits voice calls on its flights.”
Passenger harm? DOT doesn’t explain that concern. Is it suggesting that voice calls in-flight would lead to physical fights between the caller and a seatmate who doesn’t want to hear it?
The agency noted that when it looked into allowing voice calls on flights back in 2014, “a substantial majority of individual commenters expressed opposition to voice calls on the grounds that they are disturbing, particularly in the confined space of an aircraft cabin.” The airlines’ trade group thinks airlines should be allowed to decide for themselves whether to allow phone calls, but flight attendants’ unions are opposed to the practice.
Still, several foreign airlines permit voice calls on their flights, and there is little if any evidence that the practice led to fisticuffs or boycotts.
Gogo’s popular inflight wi-fi system has the capability to handle voice calls, but for now, the VOIP calls are blocked on commercial flights. But the ability to use inflight wi-fi for voice calls is a very popular feature on Gogo-equipped private jets. Gogo currently offers free texting (only) on commercial flights for T-Mobile customers.
Elsewhere, airlines that have adopted the onboard technology have the ability to turn voice calling on or off– and some, like Lufthansa, have decided to keep it off. Ryanair, Europe’s largest carrier, experimented with allowing cell phone use on its planes in 2009 and dumped the idea due to lack of interest.
Some of the airlines that offer Aeromobile’s inflight SMS or phone service
Here are lists of airlines that offer inflight mobile phone or SMS service via Aeromobile or OnAir.
Why don’t people in these other countries yack endlessly on their cell phones on planes if they can? Because using a mobile phone on a plane is not the same as using it on the ground. It’s very expensive... calls cost about $3-$4 per minute– and charges appear on your mobile phone bill.
What’s not clear now is how inflight wi-fi (or VOIP) calling can be regulated onboard, and how it may be priced. In any case, you can bet that it will not be free. And if inflight wi-fi usage (which runs at about 7%) is any indicator, inflight calling will likely not be widespread.
While airlines are said to be studying the issue, most are standing by previous decisions to ban inflight calls.
In any case, if you’d like to share an opinion with them on the subject, go to www.regulations.gov and file comments on docket number DOT-OST-2014-0002.
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I cant stand people talking on their cell phone in the office, never mind the tube of a plane. Ever meet a loud person talking on a cell phone in the airport terminal, they would do the same thing on a plane.
Notice where the person in the Emirates publicity photo is sitting while talking no the telephone?!!? That photo alone should explain why the general answer to this no. Do I expect that people will start fights on planes? Actually I do. If people start fist fights over seat-recline, overhead bin space, and armrests, then yes, I expect there will actually be flights over phone use. Granted this will be the exception but a one-way conversation on a phone is an invitation for someone to not realize the volume of their voice and who wants to spend hours sitting 1/2 an inch next to someone who is blabbering on about some spreadsheet? I hate it enough when the fool next to me wants to talk about his job selling/fixing/consulting widgets, as if I give two #@$%s.
Just spend some time on the Acela to/from NYC and you’ll understand why this needs to be “NO.” Given the other options on the train, the plane is so much worse: on the train you actually have a lot more personal space than the train, you can get up and go to the cafe car, the quiet car or actually just change your seat.
Ok, let me express this very simply:
As a peaceful, loving, and tolerant being my comment re potential use of cell phones in the air is this: I WILL GO TO PRISON ! … why? Yes, you guessed correctly. Because I’ll kill!
AND: These fotos of happy smiling people talking on their phones in the plane are an extremely disgusting example of the stupidity, schizophrenia, and indifferent idiocy of ‘modern’ humans.
Ok … go ahead, flag this post.
for being appropriate 😉
Doom, gloom, and righteous indignation aside, handle the situation similar to how airlines handle passenger conversing loudly with each other.
Flight attendant notices someone speaking “too loud” (relative to whether it is daytime, sleep time, meal time, …), and asks him/her to please talk softer so as not to disturb surrounding passengers. I’ve witnessed this many times on longhaul flights, and the passenger(s) complied.
Sadly our current rude society in the States will make this a total nightmare.
Hopefully most of the domestic airlines will not allow the use of cell phones. If not, my flying days will quickly come to an end.
I too will say that if airlines allow folks to use cell phones at their seats, it will cause problems with fights breaking out between seatmates.
Unfortunately the airlines will be greedy on this and see another source of revenue and jump at the opportunity to make more money.
If that is the case the only way I hope that it’s allowed is if they have a section of the plane that is for cell phone users only, kind of like the old smoking sections that they had on airplanes.
That is the only fair way to do this in such small, crapped places like planes.
Dear me NO! I am a conservative capitalist and free marketer but on a CONFINED SPACE line a plane I can’t get away from a person yacking next to me and have a right to not listen to babbling bafoon.
“Excuse me Neighbor, but would you please step outside to make that call? Thanks!”
limit it to texting