Guest Blog: Ban snoring while you’re at it

We have asked a few select guest bloggers to join us on this blog as part of a seven week mini series on hot button aviation topics that effect you, the traveler. These guest bloggers will no doubt enrich your travel experience by bringing in their own various perspectives and experiences from different horizons. Today we would like to introduce Mary Kirby as the sixth guest blogger*.

For over a decade Mary has worked as both a journalist and editor for the Flight group’s suite of online and print publications.

She joined Flight’s premium real-time news service Air Transport Intelligence in 1999 as regional reporter (Americas), and was promoted to deputy editor (Americas) in 2003 and later to US editor.

Since September of 2007, Mary has worked as a senior editor at Flight International magazine and become a regular contributor to the industry’s premium monthly publication, Airline Business.

Working from the Philadelphia area, Mary covers major and regional airlines and airframers and has developed expertise in the in-flight entertainment and connectivity (IFEC) sector as well as aircraft interiors. Mary's video blogs on IFEC can be viewed at Flight Global IFEC.

She is also the proprietor of the fast-growing Runway Girl blog. This has given Mary a happy outlet for her newsy posts about IFEC and interiors and her slightly cheeky sense of humour.

Previous assignments include a post at World Airlines News, where she was reporter/acting editor. She majored in English at St Vincent College in Pennsylvania.

You can also follow Mary on Twitter @RunwayGirl.
Today Mary shares her thoughts on in-flight cellular use.

You’re unhappily ensconced in the middle seat on a flight to anywhere when the teenage boy sitting in the seat to your right picks up his cell phone and dials a number.

“Jersey Shore was off the hook last night, yo. Snookie is freaking hot,” he says, and then proceeds to give his friend a blow-by-blow account of the show.

Just then, the female executive sitting in the seat to your left picks up her cell phone, dials company headquarters, and spends the next 30 minutes reaming out a subordinate at the top of her lungs.

The recession may have downgraded her to economy class, but by God that isn’t going to stop her from letting everybody on the aircraft know just how important she is!

Sound like the perfect travel nightmare? You’re right!

But it is a nightmare that is not grounded in reality.

Since 2007, airlines in Asia, Europe and the Middle East have offered in-flight mobile connectivity service to passengers. To date, there has not been a single reported incident or problem. That means no fist fights. No smashing of cell phones. No scream fests. No air rage.

Why? For starters, the cost of making an in-flight call is comparable to international roaming rates. As such, calls tend to be less than a minute in duration.

So, you can imagine there are plenty of calls like this: “Hi honey, my flight is running late. Can you pick me up in about two hours? Love you!”

There are also a finite number of communication lines (typically 6-12 lines per aircraft), which limits the number of simultaneous calls at any one time. And aircraft noise drowns out much of the sound.

A cacophony of voices this is not!

Significantly, however, social issues have been addressed with a combination of phone etiquette - passengers receive messages on their cell phones to be mindful of their neighbours - and cabin crew control of communications. Flight attendants can switch the service off, such as at night-time and for take-off and landing.

Check out the photo above. It is not some glossy, promotional shot for in-flight mobile phone service providers. Rather, it was snapped by a friend of mine on a recent Ryanair flight from the UK to Sweden.

Note that the woman at the forefront is rather unceremoniously making a cell phone call, while the passengers around her don’t even bat an eyelid.

Indeed, debate over whether or not the in-flight use of cell phones should be permitted on commercial flights is raging in only one part of the world - the United States, where lawmakers are seeking to impose a permanent federal ban against such activity, citing nuisance concerns.

“The public doesn't want to be subjected to people talking on their cell phones on an already over-packed airplane,” US congressman Peter DeFazio said in 2008 when he first introduced so-called Hang-Up Act legislation in the House of Representatives to ensure the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC’s) current in-flight cell phone ban stays firmly in place.

DeFazio later sought to strike fear in the hearts of Americans when, in August 2009 in a lengthy opinion piece for US News and World Report, he said:

“Ringing cell phones and loud phone conversations will not only disturb and annoy fellow travellers but could result in arguments and fights at 30,000 feet, forcing flight attendants to serve as referees. Even worse, imagine a situation where 75 people are on their cell phones while flight attendants are trying to make a safety announcement, and they can't be heard over the din of conversation.”

Oh please! Does DeFazio think Americans are less capable of exercising self control? Or perhaps he hasn’t head that flight attendants can control the system.

DeFazio’s bill, which has since been tucked into FAA reauthorization legislation as an amendment, also seeks to permanently ban voice over IP (VoIP). But wired satcom phone handsets – the kind that US airlines used to offer in seatbacks - would not be banned, in what must be the first example of prejudice against wireless devices.

In-flight mobile connectivity service providers AeroMobile and OnAir together with support from Panasonic Avionics, Inmarsat and Rockwell Collins have been lobbying against the House amendment under the umbrella of the In-flight Passenger Communications Coalition (IPCC). Aircell is notably absent from the group, having long ago focused on offering in-flight Wi-fi to the US commercial space, despite its name.

“Oh sure,” you say, “A bunch of firms that stand to make money off of in-flight mobile connectivity oppose the US ban. Surprise, surprise!” But these stakeholders are not alone.

The Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council and the Coalition for an Airline Passenger’s Bill of Rights (CAPBOR) last year asked Congress to commission a study on the use of wireless communications devices on US commercial flights before imposing a federal ban.

In light of the current economic crisis, I think it unlikely that Congress will set aside funds for a study. But in my opinion, it would do well to drop DeFazio’s amendment entirely and allow for a debate over in-flight cell phone use to play out in the correct forum – as part of a new FCC notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM).

A new NPRM would allow airlines, crewmembers, travellers and other stakeholders to study the latest data (of which there is a ton!), comment on the information, and help decide once and for all if passengers on US planes should be allowed to make cell phone calls in-flight.

A commenter to DeFazio’s August post probably puts it best: “While I agree with the author's potential frustrations argument, this is an issue for airline policy, NOT the law. The government has a vested interest in safety, but quality of travel is an issue for the airlines, not the government. How would you feel about a law that bans fruit juice in flight because it might stain someone's clothes, or a law that bans sleeping in flight if you snore?”

Snore strips anyone?

*The opinions expressed in this blog are not necessarily those of Harrisburg International Airport.