Why can't you use mobile phones on planes?

i thought it's not just mobile phones anyway, but all electronic equipment should be turned off.

once the plane has taken off you prolly can use your mobile if you like, but then it just won't work.

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Imagine you are flying a plane with that shit going on all the time due to 100-odd passengers.

(x-post Chris) - I guess that depends on yr altitude.

i just kind of assumed that 35,000 ft is pretty fucking far.

The phones provided on the planes are just like mobiles, they are of the satellite GSM sort. Kind of like Thuraya, or whatever it is. They use satellites as base stations/antennae.

Competition from Airphone or the like is a major reason. Unrelated but telling, there has been talk for a number of years (before 9/11) to black out cell service in airports because the payphone business is so profitable there (much more so than other places, as payphones gradually disappear).

Nothing about air travel is designed for the traveler's convenience.

hahahahaha u have never flown aeroflot obv.

"CONTRARY to popular belief, mobile phones do not pose a safety threat to airliners. On an average transatlantic flight, several phones are usually left switched on by accident, and the avionics systems on modern aircraft are hardened against radio interference. No, the use of phones on planes is banned because they disrupt mobile networks on the ground. An airliner with 500 phones on board, whizzing across a city, can befuddle a mobile network as the phones busily hop from one base-station to the next.

This obstacle is on the point of being overcome: the technology is being developed to allow passengers to use their existing handsets in flight, without interfering with ground-based networks."

I hate the airlines. They're all so poorly run and clearly despise their customers.

Nonetheless (all the more?), I'm still grateful when the plane lands safely!!!!!!

AARGH, yet another thing to be annoyed by when flying. As if being crammed into a confined space near crying children and smelly people while your skin turns to paper for hours on end isn't bad enough without having to listen to cell phone conversations into the mix. I mean, this happens on public transport/other places enough, but you're not imprisoned as much in those places like you are in a plane. Guh. What's the big deal? What CAN'T FUCKING WAIT to talk about until you get on the ground?

I'm not going to posit that this is absolutely false, but relatively unlikely. It's much more likely to be about airlines' control of the passenger rather than anyone worrying about the cell network.

Also, I doubt it's ever been tested. When did an airliner with 500 cell phone talkers ever fly over a city? Other than Minsk, apparently.

Many more people are buzzing around various cell sites run by different (although fewer and fewer) carriers in any large city. If they get overwhelmed, they don't accept more traffic. Sometimes you get an "all circuits busy" message, or sometimes your call doesn't go through.

(Bathroom scene, reporter, red hair)

that happened to me once when I was a little kid. The stewardess ripped 'em off my ears.

My favorite moment of airplane fuckery was the time I was flying into Newark, and this guy in the front with tattoos stood up and walked to the front of the plane while it was still taxiing to the gate. A stewardess said to him, "Sir, please remain in your seat." He brushed her aside and said "YOU'RE NOT MY MOTHER!," the door came open, and he walked out into the terminal.

that's right.

'Like, woooh i could save 3 mins here by pushing everyone out the way, getting all my shit out while we are landing or something, and totally disregarding what the people who look after you tell you to do. what the fuck is the rush?'

Arriving in Lahore, the plane lurched forward at the gate and everyone who'd got up fell over.

But i think most americans would rather hear "Im about to crash this motherfucking plane into a windmill" in spanish, than anything in arabic right before a landing. Even if its merely, "I love ponies".

Oh, and the point being, the gas stations never blew up.

You can lead a whore to culture, but...

i was mildly impressed by Southwest - and their livery is dreamy. Is it possible to be only 'mildly' impressed?

(drool)

Ryanair allows mobile phone use

As if Ryanair flights weren't depressing enough.

Why can't you use mobile phones on planes? BECAUSE THERE IS A GOD WHO LOVES US ENOUGH TO SPARE US THE INDIGNITY OF HEARING DUMBASSES YAMMERING ABOUT FUCK-ALL FOR EIGHT FUCKING HOURS WHEN ALL WE WANT IS A QUIET FUCKING FLIGHT TO EUROPE SO WE CAN TAKE A NICE CRUISE ON THE MEDITERRANEAN, BUT IT'S VERY LIKELY THAT ON THE WAY OVER WE'D BE HIJACKED BY SOME TERRORIST GROUP SEEKING MEDIA APPROVAL, AND WE'D BE IN A REALLY BAD SITUATION, IN DANGER OF OUR LIVES, BUT WE'D BE THINKING "THEY CAN'T DO THIS TO ME, CAUSE I'M AN AMERICAN CITIZEN!

They should allow smoking too, and yelling.

I don't actually care about my mobile, what I want is for the stewardess not to tell me to turn off my IPOD which does nothing but play music and movies. "Portable electronic devices" my ass. It's not making connection with any network of any kind, and it's none of your business what I do with it.

But Laurel, if the plane goes screaming into the Hudson, how will you know how to brace yourself if you have your iPod on?

Well, on a good day the anguished screams of the other passengers should be able to make themselves heard over my viewing of "Pride and Prejudice". I'm willing to take that risk.

but some ipods can connect to the internet, i'm sure they don't want to check everybody's gadgets to see if they're actually online or not

oh yes they do, stop frontin

i thought the deal with the ipods was the on/off switch may interfere with the landing gear or some such shit

the parachute game has been known to cause the engines to explode

I thought I would point out to some that I am 'one of those pompous stewardesses' and I do instruct for anything with an on/off switch to be turned off for several reasons: 1. I am told to do so not only by the airline but also the FAA. I'm sorry but I am not going to get in trouble with them over an ignorant customer in part because I don't have the kind of money that they like to fine flight attendants. 2. As previously stated it is for the safety of customers, some who are frequent fliers and A LOT WHO ARE NOT, to know how to evacuate the aircraft 3. I had a friend tell me that an IPod actually interfered with her pilot's communication with ATC, apparently he was taking off to 'Janies Got a Gun' rather than directions and coordinates. Number three is the reason I was brought to this web site, because I am looking for some validation to what she told me. I am not looking for the he said/she said junk, or the I believe crap leave the emotions out of it and state the facts. Also everyone's opinions are appreciated, at least the unbiased ones, but to say the least Göran Kahlström gave the best advice. Everyone thinks that we are there to serve drinks and snacks, but I will point out one fact that ninety-nine percent of our training to become FAA certified is security and safety procedures. From a personal standpoint I can only recall approximately three maybe four hours of customer service training, the rest involved managing high risk situations. BTW if you have the balls to argue with a flight attendant over something as small as a PED, just know upon arrival to your gate you could be escorted off the aircraft in handcuffs... I don't mean in a naughty way either. Pick and choose your battles. ;o}

lollllllllllllll

I had a friend tell me that an IPod actually interfered with her pilot's communication with ATC, apparently he was taking off to 'Janies Got a Gun' rather than directions and coordinates.

the fact that this dude didn't react by intentionally burying the nose of the plane into the tarmac is a testament to his heroism

Moral fibre.

I don't buy any of this for the exact reason that Lauren said upthread: if it were even remotely likely that a forgotten cell phone or PED could crash a plane, it would be absolutely imperative for the airlines to confiscate those items so they could guarantee your safety from the possible effects. No insurer would even LOOK at them otherwise! But all they do is make a polite request. Don't believe it.

I am too busy lolling at John's new screen name to lol at personal electronics paranoia on planes.

Well maybe I can say "lol 'Janie's Got A Gun'" but that's about it.

a forgotten cell phone /= everyone using their cells all the time.

i don't really care what the reason is though, i appreciate as much quiet reading time as possible on flights.

If stuff interferes with stuff in a plane, are passengers advised to turn off their pacemakers too?

does the pacemaker connect to a network, so that it can chat with other pacemakers?

I know my alarm clock gets the time from some radio transmitter, maybe pacemakers do too? Or maybe they synchronise when in proximity to each other, like the wireless menstruating nun thing.

Lol Airfone

On BA last week, the in-flight magazine had it that on long haul, there is a WiFi you can connect to once you are in airplane safe mode.

We were not on long haul.

The mag mentioned a charge but didn't say how much it was.

First hour is usually free. Full flight is something like £23 I think.