• Cell phones on airplanes Cell phones on airplanes By Rochester (N.Y.) Democrat and Chronicle – December 19, 2004 Many stressed-out travelers look forward to the moment when an airline attendant asks them to please turn off their cell phones
• Cell phones on airplanes
Cell phones on airplanes
By Rochester (N.Y.) Democrat and Chronicle – December 19, 2004
Many stressed-out travelers look forward to the moment when an airline attendant asks them to please turn off their cell phones and wireless Internet devices.
Flights provide one of the few stretches in modern times when a person can’t answer a phone, can’t reply to an e-mail and can’t check stock prices. Floating far above all the work that’s waiting, airline passengers find peace, quiet and calm.
Well, no more, says the Federal Communications Commission. It voted, on Wednesday, to allow high-speed Internet connections on airplanes. Cell phones may be next.
Since the announcement, the FCC has been flooded with e-mails from people begging it to maintain the ban on cell phones during flights. We agree that spending hours trapped in a tight cabin surrounded by people discussing their shopping lists or medical procedures and shouting, “Can you hear me now?” is nothing to look forward to.
Of course, there’s always hope that enterprising airlines will capitalize on this development by offering communication-free sections. …
In the meantime, people should savor quiet flights, knowing that they may one day look back fondly on a time when it was possible to be incommunicado.
