The End of Civil Air Travel is at Hand

[jimntx]

DOT says airlines and ticket agents must warn prospective passengers if telephone calls allowed on-board.

http://atwonline.com/regulation/dot...m=email&elq2=e121e700fdbe4c7b97d8d33dba8c5837

First off, warn the flight crews. I can retire before it starts. Increase in on-board Wi-Fi means passengers no longer need prohibited radio frequencies to make in-flight telephone calls. Flight Attendants will rapidly become referees as to who's talking the loudest, who's preventing others from sleeping, etc. No thank you.

I'm hoping that the DOT will leave it to each airline to allow/disallow onboard calls. American currently does not allow even VOIP (Wi-Fi) on its planes even though almost all have Wi-Fi installed.

 

[eolesen]

I'd be happy to have SMS allowed. Less worried about in-flight usage than Jim, since I think people would probably police themselves about as well as they do on the train, which all in all isn't so bad. It might be nice for those times when I'm non-revving with my kids and we're separated by more than a few rows... but SMS would manage that, too.

 

[jimntx]

The article was specifically discussing telephone calls made during flight (I'm assuming VOIP since the article specifically mentioned internet frequencies being used). Considering that a lot of people in this day and age have no problem with not only leaving their cell phones on during a movie at a theater, and they also have no problem with answering a telephone call and carrying on a conversation out loud during the movie, I have much less faith in people to respect boundaries on the airplane than you do. Boundaries, such as, talking too loudly at any time, or talking at all on a late flight where people are trying to sleep.

Let's hope I'm wrong. However, just about everyone, including Executive Platinums, seems to believe that the rules and/or the laws do not apply to them while on an airplane these days. I repeat...I see the flight attendants ending up having to referee arguments about said telephone calls.

 

[xUT]

It's already a zoo.
Now everyone will be on Skype, KaKaotalk, or some other service provider.
I can't imagine sitting between to chatty people whom respect no one.
Jeez

 

[SharoninSAT]

You are so right xUT, it's already a zoo and it will be very annoying. I agree that
DOT “should simply ban voice calls on flights within, to, or from the United States.”
I'm sure the flight crews would hate to see air rage as a regular occurrence.

 

[La Li Lu Le Lo]

It's already a zoo.
Now everyone will be on Skype, KaKaotalk, or some other service provider.
I can't imagine sitting between to chatty people whom respect no one.
Jeez

Not really an issue. They can block access to certain sites. I mean think about how restricted your internet access is at work. Though for that they probably run an "approved list" instead of a "blocked list".