spv & planes

[Guest chrisbpr]

flew easyjet this weekend...boring 2 hour flight ,thought i'd take my c500 to play some tunes .

turned it onto flght mode & the trolly dolly tells me that under CAA rules i cant do this. has anyone else had the same problem ???

[Guest nato]

Yep - just returned from Florida. Wasn't allowed to use the phone with flight mode enabled. WHY I ask ? - Laptops and PDA's no problem....wots all that about then? - with flight mode on, its more or less a pda anyway ! - wasn't too upset, they were playing the entire U2 back catalogue!

[Guest simon211175]

my girlfriend moans when I use my c500 in hospitals etc. I guess it just comes down to the fact that people think that it looks like a phone therefore it is a phone, has no "flight mode" and there's no arguing.

[Guest lescargot]

flew easyjet this weekend...boring 2 hour flight ,thought i'd take my c500 to play some tunes .

turned it onto flght mode & the trolly dolly tells me that under CAA rules i cant do this. has anyone else had the same problem ???

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Flew BA few months ago. Cabin staff noticed me using the phone and asked me turn it off. I explained it was a smartphone and that all its radio functions were switched off in its flight mode, they said that was alright. Makes their life a bit more difficult as to identify who is using a regular phone. The inflight magazine had specific details on what can and cant be used on board and this included smartphones with flight mode. CAA rules what load of cobblers, if you can be bothered you should write a letter to easy jet customer services.

Iain

[Guest nato]

All I can say is that MYTravel have no idea what 'Flight mode' means...It was repeatedly requested to turn off mobiles with or without flight mode.

[Guest mupwangle]

I was on a 747 this sunday and they made an announcement that all mobile phone devices - including phones and PDA's with flight modes are banned. They obviously seemed to understand the difference.

[Guest tronicx]

Its wierd.. considering they are developing Pico cells so you can actually use your phone on-board... Still - it's better to air with caution. Someone really should work out how much interference a mobile causes when it can't find a Cell to lock onto.

[Guest KingDaddy]

Still - it's better to air with caution.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I can't decide if this was intentional or not. Still, kudos!

[Guest Godfather]

Samething happened when I was flying america west to Toronto. I took out the smartphone and I put it into flight mode and the people next to me were looking at me weird and seemed to be concerned (mad).lol And they rang down one of the attendants and told her about me and they said I had to turn it off. (said this in a panic tone.lmao) i told them it's a smartphone and the radio frequency is off so it is acting like a PDA or laptop. But they said "NO YOU HAVE TO TURN IT OFF!" lol they could have at least said please. So I was like ok. And the people next to me were happy, so instead I pulled out my PDA and the people looked at me again thinking that they had stopped me. They called the attendant again, and again she questioned me and I told her this one is just a PDA not a cell phone and I am just reading a book. But they freaking told me i am not allowed to use that either becuase it was the HP PDA with the small antenna on top for wireless. (As if they don't trust me. Like I really want to cause the plane I am on to crash!!!) So I put it away the people were happy again. And just to make this even better, I pulled out my Tablet PC!!! lmfao!!! And I was all like, ya what you gonna do now. They couldn't do anything because it was a computer. Those people tried so hard, I'll give them that, but they lost in the end!! But ya seriously the FIA and FAA and CAA and whoever else really needs to mention exactly what and what can not be used on the plane. The smartphone should be allowed otherwise what the hell is the point of that flight mode, just might as well take it out. Or make it for something useful. And like what about the people with laptops. Most laptops have wireless and bluetooth built in. And I am sure most people don't even take those off or probably don't know how. So like something should be done about all of this classification.

Edited June 15, 2005 by Godfather

[Guest PAA415]

Depends on what airline you fly; I fly United regularly (both domestic and internationally) and part of their in-flight announcement is that cell phones and PDAs may be used in flight as long as the transmit function is turned off.

[Guest SinisterJunkie]

I have used a few different Smartphones on a bunch of different airlines and have never had too many issues. It's a little more difficult to explain what the device is to the flight attendents in Coach than in First or Business class, but I have never had too much trouble. Maybe I just got lucky, but there is really no reason that you shouldn't be allowed to use a Smartphone (in Flight Mode) when your allowed to use an MP3 player or laptop.

[Guest sprocket87]

I'll be flying to Cali in August (honeymoon baybee!) on American, it's gonna be a pretty looong flight (almost 8 hours I think!!), and I'm banking on using my danged 5600! I just got a 1GB card to make it my official MP3 player, so I better not hear any crap!

I'll just keep it in my pocket and sneak it out when they aren't around to switch tracks ;)

[Guest Griff_FFOC]

As above, flew MyTravel a few times, and the always say "mobile phones, including those with a flight safe mode should be switched off". Guess they are just playing on the safe side. Could always just turn it on in flight mode, plug headphones in and leave it in your pocket playing media player. ;)

[Guest sracer]

During my last trip, I anticipated a potential problem using my SMT-5600 in Flight Mode. So I started out watching a movie on it in landscape mode, gripping the phone like a bicycle handlebar concealing the keypad. It looked like a portable video player with a funky handgrip. After that, I used it with my folding BT keyboard... and after that, slipped it in my shirt pocket to listen to music.

Bottom line... to reduce/eliminate hassles, don't make the phone look like a phone. ;)

[Guest Alex_le_brit]

(As if they don't trust me. Like I really want to cause the plane I am on to crash!!!)

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

And the 9/11 hijackers used exactly the same excuse.

Fact is in this day and age with heightened security, I image anything with any radio transmission possibilities is "suspect" at least in economy. In business of course they can't possible stop people paying 1000's from using their laptops, can you imagine the fuss their business clients would make.

You can just imagine some budding terrorist working out a bluetooth controlled bomb to put in his hold luggage, and then pulling out his Smartphone to set it off.

[Guest Xenzo1990]

As a matter of fact, the only thing a phone can do on a plane is mess up navigational equipment, such as GPS. Not likely to crash the plane. The only time it can actually do this is for a few minutes when the plane is leaving the range of any cells and the phone is frantically looking for a cell to tune on to.

[Guest xerxes]

I fly within Europe a couple of times per week on average.

I find that BA never give me a problem once I tell them that the radio is turned off. Lufthansa and SAS are generally ok too. Alitalia, Air France, and British Midland don't seem to get it.

I have also had a couple of occasions when panic striken American women have tried to sik the dollies on me!