Do we really need mobile phones on airlines?

Larry Borsato — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 05:42:16 -0700

In 2005, 89% of air travelers were opposed to mobile phones on airplanes. Another survey put the number at 63% against. There were even concerns of air rage. And in January, an Orbitz study found that 57% of travelers oppose cell phone usage in-flight.

So why is there even discussion about mobile phone usage on airlines? Apparently some people just can't deal with being out of touch.

A little history might help here. Consumer mobile phone technology isn’t all that old -- a little over twenty years actually -- and has only become commonplace as handsets have become cheaper and shrunk to pocket size. There are several countries with mobile penetration rates of over 100%. And no self-respecting teenager is without one; in the U.S. 50% of children have mobile phones.

Twenty years ago we didn’t have call display or ubiquitous voice mail. If you missed the ringing phone you just waited until the person called back again. And business still got done. Now it seems that we need to be reachable at all times. We see people walking down the streets on their mobile phones. We can't possibly be out of touch, even for a few hours on a plane.

We've lost peace and quiet. We’ve lost patience. We've lost the ability to be inaccessible.

Up until now, hospitals and aircraft have remained the last bastions safe from all-pervasive mobile phone use. In hospitals their use is banned because they may affect sensitive electronic equipment. On aircraft the use is banned for similar reasons, and also because they may communicate with more than one cell tower simultaneously, which may affect ground-based cell phones.

As cell phone technology has evolved, those issues have become less of a concern for in-flight use. In fact, the European Commission has just approved the in-flight use of mobile phones in Europe.

But some US politicians don’t agree. The sponsors of the Halting Airplane Noise to Give Us Peace - or Hang Up – Act, want to keep mobile phones in pockets rather than in use on aircraft. As Representative Peter DeFazio says, "The public doesn’t want to be subjected to people talking on their cell phones on an already over-packed airplane."

"Last year was one of the worst on record for flight cancellations, delays and lost luggage. Now is not the time to consider making the airline passenger-experience any worse, and using cell phones in-flight would do just that," added co-sponsor Representative Jerry Costello.

We are basically forced to endure these cell phone conversations on the ground, but at least we have the option to go elsewhere. The fact that travelers are in an enclosed space and do not have the option to leave means that we might just have to force some people to use the social graces that they otherwise wouldn’t have the common sense to.

Surveys have clearly shown that the majority of people don’t want to be bothered by mobile phones, and the government actually seems to be acting on that. Perhaps we can just use our time on airplanes to think -- before we talk.

Larry Borsato has been a software developer, marketer, consultant, public speaker, and entrepreneur, among other things. For more of his unpredictable, yet often entertaining thoughts you can read his blog at larryborsato.com.

More news, commentary, and predictions from The Industry Standard:

Opinion: 10 'Net services that will succeed (and 10 that will probably fail)
Larry Borsato: Generalists not wanted here
Ian Lamont: Is Twitter worth $75 million? $150 million? How about none of the above?
Ian Lamont: The real problem with Google's Blogger service: Neglect
Ian Lamont: Why podcasting is failing