Unfortunately It Is "Official" - Mobiles on VS

Haven't seen it mentioned anywhere else, but this article states the following, quickly & roughly translated...

"In 2007 VS will carry out a trial of mobile phones on board its aircraft. The British airline wants to study whether the service is tolerated by passengers and whether calling or texting will be more popular. Air France-KLM, TAP Portugal, bmi and Ryanair have all previously stated their intentions to introduce on board mobile phone use in some form."

Please, please let this fail.....isn't the whole flying experience miserable enough already? I don't fly Ryanair so that didn't bother me, but Virgin!?

AF

[fozzyo]

[:0][n]

How very depressing. So people won't be able to use their laptops, but will be able to annoy just about everyone with loud mobile conversations. Joyous!

[Neil]

As I have stated before I am not happy about this, surely though the airlines are going to have to have some rules etc on when they can be used during the flight, can't have some rude pax yapping away whilst others try and sleep etc, grrr how annoying[:(!]

Neil

There are some serious issues to be considered with the introduction of onboard phone use. No doubt greater problems for cabin crew trying to curb passenger phone use at "inappropriate times", air rage due obnoxious passengers etc.

Secondly, it really does become a competitive issue. Will you lose more seat sales to airline B (which doesn't provide mobile phone service onboard) than revenue gained from the phone calls? I know it would certainly become an added consideration for me when choosing which long haul airline to fly and I would go out of my way to fly the one that didn't offer it.

I can't find the source at present, but I believe the systems soon to be trialled can only handle 7 voice calls at any one time. Though many more sms'. Fabulous - 386 phones going "BEEP BEEP" at full volume every time a message arrives...

AF

I can't seem to find anyone that thinks this is a good idea. I would consider it a serious step backwards and like AtlanticFlyer, would go out of my way to avoid any flight where this was on offer.

Maybe it brings up the possibility of Mobile free areas but then I guess the Premium cabins are too small for this to be of much use. I always seek out the mobile free carriages on the train - although sometimes people still ignore them - and note with annoyance that the London Underground will soon support mobile phones underground.

Grrrr is there no escape - Do you think there is any mileage in a 'Bring back telegrams" campaign.

Phil FM (Happiest when uncontactable )

The only meaningful reply is "Aaaaaaagh!"

Sounds like one for a poll to me........


.....and here it is.

Possibly the worst idea I've seen recently.

Originally posted by AndyK
Possibly the worst idea I've seen recently.

What? A poll?

I dont think its a bad idea for sending texts. It can get a bit boring on flights.

But I really dont want people having loud conversations on their phones

Nooooooooooo...[V]

Does VS really feel the need to stoop down to Ryanair's level these days![n]

At least there are still earplugs in the scrooge packs[}:)]

VS.

Hello...HELLO?!?!? IT'S ME!!! Yeah. Yeah. I'm on a plane. To Newark New Jersey. eh? EH? No, not Guernsey, NEW JERSEY! Hello....? HELLO? HELLO? Oh, sorry, think we just went through a cloud...the map thingy says we land at 6:31pm. I'll call you if it changes.....yeah, yeah, I'll call you if it changes even by a minute....No, you hang up....no, no you hang up, no you hang [B)]

It's bad enough sitting near someone on the phone on a train for 20 minutes, let alone on a flight.

I'm 100% against it.

Yikes .... I'm 190% against it! Beat that!

Seriously bad ... is this Virgin polling the same 50 frequent flyers who think GNF and scrooges are good things ... or have the bean counters taken over from customer care again, riding rough over any element of good service in the name of margin (surely it's about time someone at VS realised that its good service that generates custom, not money grabbing every opportunity to make or take).

I can honestly say I will avoid flying any airline that allows cell phone calls in any cabin.

That may mean I start cruising between continents but I can live with that.

If this does get outfitted on aircraft, they'll probably start with LHR metal, so for once, LGW/MAN will have the upper hand;)

VS.

Realistically it isn't going to be so bad. It is going to use a satellite link so the roaming fee isn't going to be something cheap. I think currently the satellite phones are charging something like $2/minute for onboard calls. I bet this mobile phone service will be something around that.

How many people you see using the satellite phones? Even in UC? I think after a few trips people will notice that it is very expensive to use their mobile phones onboard and will stop using them.

I am sorry to say that I will be one of those people who would be using their mobile phone, at least for SMS. But I would keep my phone on vibrate mode.

[buns]

I have just got home having been on a busy London commuter train where a "considerate" passenger spent 30 minutes talking about how their house sale was progressing.

This has convinced me more that someone in VS ought to travel on London trains and realise how people become oblivious to others when using thier phones[:(!][:(!][^]

Rant over


buns

BALPA thinks it will increase the number of cases of air-rage[:?]

VS.

I guess it is designed for the business exec who perhaps need to contact the office while in flight, and if the premium market is what most airlines play for then I guess it will soon be coming to most airlines.

Originally posted by ade99
I guess it is designed for the business exec who perhaps need to contact the office while in flight, and if the premium market is what most airlines play for then I guess it will soon be coming to most airlines.

Excellent. By all means make it available at the pointy end but please leave the rest of us in peace...

Paul

I'd much rather they put their efforts into wifi internet access instead - someone should save boeing's connexions. It would appeal to business users (probably moreso than mobile phones), and I can sit chatting to friends on MSN and following the flight on Google Earth

Originally posted by pjh

Originally posted by ade99
I guess it is designed for the business exec who perhaps need to contact the office while in flight, and if the premium market is what most airlines play for then I guess it will soon be coming to most airlines.

Excellent. By all means make it available at the pointy end but please leave the rest of us in peace...

Paul

Hmm, as a pointy ender ([:0]) I rather not

Yes, wifi[^][y]

VS.

I aggree too, WiFi would be much better investment. The hours I can spend on MSN would pass the time admirably.
Not happy about mobile phones, you sort of become oblivious after a while unless of course someone is scrolling through all the ringtones they can use, talking loudly or they're just playin the ringtone though the speakers, as the chavs always do on trains out of Wolves (why do they do that..?..)
Then of course there is the issue of sleeping. I find it hard enough to get to sleep on planes as it is, especially in Y or K and the last thing I would want is being woken up by beep beep beep all the time [:(!]

Dean