European airlines are testing a plan that allows fliers to use cellphones while in the air. American airlines have not instituted the plan after fliers complained that allowing cellphones use during flight would make flights noisy and annoying. It appears that the test is not going well. It costs almost $5 a minute to make a call, the reception is terrible and incoming calls go straight to voicemail.
While airlines in the United States have shunned the use of cellphones in flight — mainly because their passengers have argued vociferously for keeping one last cellphone-free sanctuary — some European and Mideast carriers are preparing to offer the service as early as this summer. Last week, regulators in Brussels gave a green light to the airlines, setting up a common licensing arrangement.
Air France wants to be among the first, beginning an experiment to determine whether European travelers will appreciate the convenience or rebel against the possibility of being stuck next to a loquacious seatmate.
Emirates, the largest carrier in the Mideast, has already equipped an Airbus A340 fight from Dubai to Casablanca with mobile technology and intends to extend the service to its entire fleet over the next several months. Ryanair, a low-cost European carrier popular among a young and chatty clientele, is planning to offer in-flight calls, anticipating potentially lucrative profits from the service.
But a number of hurdles must be overcome before more airlines offer the service. The technology, which allows cellphone users to make and receive calls through an onboard base station linked to a satellite, delivers a still-patchy quality that keeps most in-flight calls short and tinny. And then there are the eye-popping roaming charges of up to 3 euros ($4.72) a minute.
On a recent Air France test flight between Paris and Vienna, mobile calls made using the technology that is dominant in Europe generally allowed passengers to connect to ground phones after a couple of tries. Calls made from the ground to the plane, though, tended to go directly to voice mail.
Only six passengers could get a signal at one time — to avoid interfering with the aircraft equipment. OnAir, the company that supplies the technology, said that number could soon double to 12 and possibly more in coming weeks. Since it was difficult to reach passengers in midair, ring tones did not sound, granting passengers on the test flight a silence that is sure to be filled once the technology improves.
BlackBerry users who tried to download e-mail messages found themselves engaged in an effort in futility.
Working out the kinks is probably only a matter of time. The bigger issue is whether the airlines will confront a backlash among passengers who simply want a quiet flight.
We think a better option is to perfect internet access during flight, so people can quietly access the Internet, check their email and use their Blackberries to send text messages. We think a flight full of ringing cellphones and loudtalkers would complete the current nightmarish experience that is air travel.
