As the national union of flight attendants urges Congress to ban in-flight phone calls, passengers on foreign airlines have routinely begun using mobile phones and other wireless devices mid-flight, The New York Times reports.
The argument against mobile phone use on planes ranges from radio interference to social turbulence in-cabin. But frequent flyers abroad see the situation differently.
"I use mine often when I'm on a plane to communicate with my office, especially during long flights," said news director Nakhle el Hajj of Al Arabiya News. El Hajj is based in Dubai but travels a great deal between Africa, the Middle East and Europe, typically via Dubai-based Emirates, which provides in-flight cell phone roaming service on 350 flights per week.
To ensure cabin harmony, El Hajj uses his phone in a low voice "to make sure I am not bothering people around me."
The Federal Communications Commission prohibits in-flight mobile phone use, in great part because of worries about interference with aircraft navigation equipment. Across a number of foreign airlines, however, those issues have been-resolved, for example by routing mobile signals via satellite to their proper points on land. Users with standard international roaming service can thus make or receive calls or texts as normal.
AeroMobile provides the service for Emirates. Other clients include Qantas and Malaysia Airlines, but the first ever authorized in-flight mobile call was made on Emirates — back in March 2008.
OnAir also provides mobile routing service for Royal Jordanian Airlines and Ryanair. Agreements are pending to include Qatar Airways, Kingfisher Airlines, British Airways' business service between London and JFK, and Hong Kong Airlines.
OnAir has committed to offering its mobile service across four continents by 2010.
"It's very emotional in the United States," said CEO Benoit Debains of OnAir. "I remember on the first flight we did, we asked one guy, 'What do you think about using the phone for voice in the cabin?' He said he was against it. But we said, 'You know, the guy across from you has been using his phone for the last five minutes.'"
In 2005, the FCC proposed removing the ban on in-flight mobile phone use on planes equipped with those provided by OnAir and AeroMobile, and resistance remains. At present, legislation called the Halting Airplane Noise to Give Us Peace Act — the Hang Up Act, for short — is pending in Congress to ban voice communications via wireless devices. The Association of Flight Attendants has also urged Congress to ban in-flight mobile calls, citing the necessity "to maintain order in the cabin and to safely execute an emergency evacuation if necessary."
