[Anonymous]

[JeffD]

I am really please to see that so many travellers support BA’s move to not allow passengers to make inflight phone calls.

I get really annoyed when travelling on all forms of transport and other passengers are shouting into their mobile phones, I would hate being stuck on a flight and having to listen a lot of random calls.

As a side line I was on call at the hospital recently and a patient was having a very loud conversation at 02.45 am which woke up several patients. I can not think of any worse than just getting to sleep on a flight and being woken by some inconsiderate person making a phone call.

Well done BA.

[MartynSinclair]

I don’t think BA has banned passengers making in flight calls.. does the IFE have a telephone as part of the system.. mobile phones wont work at 38,000′!

[AllOverTheGaff]

If BA are stopping people on their mobile phones then good for them. I noted on my last EK flight that their entire fleet of A380’s have free wifi now, it can surely only be a matter of time before the ‘me me me’ brigade who are way too important to survive a few hours without their phones are ruining the last place we could get peace from the bloody things.

Rgds.
AOTG.

[AspirationalFlyer]

I definitely think BA is right to do so.

There are so many other options available to communicate with family and friends other than by making telephone calls: various apps (which could utilise paid or free in-flight Wi-Fi, for example, whatsapp or social media such as the instant messaging function on Facebook); text messages (assuming signal is available) or the good fashioned option of just waiting until you have arrived and cleared immigration. I think the restriction is particularly important when flying overnight.

An example of how annoying this would be in practice occurred last night when I was delayed in Rotterdam Airport and there were several people making Skype calls at what appeared to be full volume which were clearly audible within a 4 metres distance (possibly more). Depending on the length of the conversation, I can imagine this being very uncomfortable when in a densely packed aircraft environment.

[travelworld2]

Martyn Sinclair is right- BA, in common with many other airlines, has for many years had a phone handset inbuilt into the IFE controls. From memory it costs around £10 a minute to use.

Which prompted me to think- in all my years of flying I have never once seen or heard anyone use one- still less used one myself. Has anyone else?

[AspirationalFlyer]

Whilst I have seen numerous phone handsets inbuilt in IFE systems/controls, I think there is now a strong case for these being removed given: (i) I suspect that in practice they are so expensive to use, the uptake of this service must be limited – albeit I have no facts to confirm this; and (ii) as mentioned in my post above, due to technological changes which much of the world has embraced, IFR phones are (in my opinion) increasingly redundant.

[BAfanatic]

travelworld2 said about the built-in phones “in all my years of flying I have never once seen or heard anyone use one- still less used one myself. Has anyone else?” – absolutely right – in decades of flying I’ve never seen anyone use one, let alone used one myself.

I completely agree with Jeffreydavison – please PLEASE keep mobile phone usage off planes – people loudly using the darn things in public are driving me to distraction elsewhere.

[LuganoPirate]

I have used the in-flight phone Travelworld, just once, for the novelty factor. I can’t remember the airline but I remember it was $10 for the first minute and I called home speaking for just 58 seconds! I’ve never used it since and like you never seen anyone else use it.

[MrMichael]

MrsM used it once, but free. She was on Thai to Brisbane, due to weather the flight was diverted to Cairns, she was discreetly given a complimentary voucher as were all pax travelling with small children to let family’s know of the diversion. She had two minutes worth, but the call only took about a minute.

In case your wandering, no I did not drive up to Cairns….I drank copious amounts of coffee and collected her when the flight did arrive around five hours late.

[canucklad]

Simple solution to the problem, have a separate cabin for the cackling crowd. That way they can drown out each other’s conversations, whilst the rest of us can peacefully listen to the blissful silence of the engines roaring us to our destination.

[seasonedtraveller]

Agree 100%,

personally, I like ‘quiet time’ on my flights – I don’t want to talk to the person seated next to me and I certainly don’t want to be subjected to some self important fools yelling away on mobile phones at 36,000 feet.

[BA319131]

Absolutely the right thing to do, it’s the only place where I get a rest from the blasted phone!

[openfly]

Errr, I think you may be able to use mobiles at altitude these days.
When I arrived in CPT a few days ago I realised that I had mistakenly forgotten to switch my mobile off. It was deep in my hand baggage in the overhead locker.

When I looked at my messages, there were 12…..”Welcome to SFR France, Welcome to Vodafone Spain, Algeria, Chad,…..all countries to Angola, Namibia and finally South Africa”. On that basis, I could have made a mobile phone call at any stage of the flight. Oooops!

[LuganoPirate]

Funny you should say that Openfly, I had the same flying Lufthansa, though i didn’t collect as many countries as you on my way to JNB, 5 I think it was.

I’m in CPT as well having left the dusty game reserve with family and am now in front of the pool of my favourite hotel!

[Author]

Posts