Majority of passengers against in-flight mobile calls

by Darren Davidson, Brand Republic 21-May-08, 11:55

LONDON - An overwhelming nine out of 10 consumers do not want to hear mobile phone ring tones on airplanes, flying in the face of European Commission moves to bring mobile calls to European flights.

The controversial plans to introduce technology on flights that would allow passengers to make phone calls in the air have also been given approval by UK telecoms regulator Ofcom.

Nine out of 10 people in the survey of 1,135 people, commissioned by internet giant Yahoo!, said mobile phone usage on airplanes should be restricted to silent features only.

Yahoo!, which has its own raft of mobile phone services, said the results demonstrate that consumers view their mobile phone as more than just a phone, but also a computer in their pocket with a wide variety of features.

UK consumers said they supported passengers being given access to mobile phone features such as email and text while in-flight, but made clear their preference for no talking.

Of the respondents 49% cited email as the most useful feature to access on the plane if they were going on a holiday, while 14% said that checking the weather would be a real benefit.

Geraldine Wilson, vice president and general manager of Connected Life at Yahoo! Europe, said: "There is an increasing debate about the use of mobile phones on aeroplanes.

"This survey proves the desire of UK consumers to stay connected to their social networks and their interests whilst in-flight, but they don't want to be forced to sit through a flight listening to the passenger next to them having one-way conversations."

Telecom officials in 20 EU member countries recently granted airlines approval to develop and offer mobile phone services.

Comments

AwallafaShagba - 21/05/2008

I cannot think of anything worse then Joe City on the phone all the way to Larnaca Airport next to me. Email yes. Phone can wait until the airport surely?

Omar Jamil - 21/05/2008

I have to agree with Awalla... There's nothing more annoying or grating on one's nerves than people holding loud conversations on their mobiles in confined public spaces. The problem though (as I see it) is how do mobile service providers get around providing email/internet/text services without voice? Personally, the way I see this playing out is that we as consumers will start becoming more 'self-regulating' about how we use our mobiles in-flight. If such a high proportion of people polled are against using voice services, then it would seem logical to assume that the majority of people in the UK will not use voice services... Hence, it becomes 'self-regulating'.