It had to happen. No longer are we going to be safe from the scourge of cellphones in the sky; Emirates airline has announced that it will allow passengers to use their mobile phones during flights. Can you imagine it? An aircraft has been the last bastion of freedom from the annoying "ear-rings" that people can't seem to spend a minute without.And, of course, you know where the cellphone addict will be sitting on the plane? Yes, right next to me. And when this 'pain in the ear' is not chatting away, screaming with laughter at jokes I cannot hear, they will be sending SMS's or testing out their ring tones. Now that can REALLY drive one mad!
The first call was made on Thursday 13 March 2008 on a flight from Dubai to Casablanca. The airlines says that the response has
been very enthusiastic. I'll bet it is, but only from the damn cellphone addicts. Of course, people have been able to make calls from seat phones for years, but having to swipe a credit card across the handset before each call has a dampening effect on callers. No such luck with cellphones, I'm afraid.The airline says that only five or six calls will be allowed at any one time (how the hell will they do that?) and passengers will be encouraged to switch their phones to silent / vibrate mode when used in the aircraft (oh, yeah...)
Do Emirates, the overly-innovative airline from the Middle East, realise what they are doing? By facilitating the world's first inflight mobile telephone service, they have opened the door to a new breed of air rage. Drinks will tossed over callers, air bags shoved over their heads and some even smothered with miniature pillows.Don't believe me? Well, consider this survey that was done among airline passengers to find out the three things that would annoy them most during a flight. Unsurprisingly, 67% of passengers claimed that the use of cellphones would be a huge irritant and believed it would be even worse than sitting next to a smelly, over-amorous or obnoxious passenger.
Here is what passengers said they would find most irritating:78% The person behind knocking your seat
69% The person infront reclining their seat
67% Mobile phone use during a flight
53% Smelly passengers
18% Obnoxious passengers
10% Passengers leaving the toilets in a mess
3% Other passengers music/games
1% Overly chatty passengers
1% Overly amorous passengers
So, enjoy your flights for the next few months. And, when you finally board a "cellphone-abled" fllight and feel air rage building up, don't do anything stupid. Find something to relax you...or give me a call.
