4 ms·

I'm not a big fan of people who are always on their phones but I don't think disallowing them on planes really solves any actual real world problem. Those chatt

I'm not a big fan of people who are always on their phones but I don't think disallowing them on planes really solves any actual real world problem. Those chatterboxes who need to be talking will just continue to annoy the stranger sitting next to them or chatterbox with their friend sitting next to them if they are travelling in a group. Either way I need to filter them out with headphones or whatever. And while I have no interest in spending the majority of even a short flight talking on phones, it would sometimes be very convenient to be able to make a quick call to someone waiting at the airport 10 minutes before a flight lands or something like that. Throwing out that sort of convenience to get rid of a distraction like someone talking on their phone in an environment that is already inherently full of really loud sound distractions seems like a silly move to me.

bradleyjg 13y ago
The guy behind me on the train this morming was traveling by himself. Other than the 15 minutes he spent loudly participating in a settlement conference call (violating client confidentiality I might add) he was perfectly quiet. There was no evidence that he was a compulsive chatterbox, he just found it convienient to take a call right then and didn't care how many people he bothered. While it is true that other people have been very annoying on the train by talking to each other it is not true that banning telephone calls would have no salutary effect.
- nisse72 13y ago
  If you'd been travelling with SJ (Swedish railway) you could have chosen a quiet section, where cell phones are expected to be turned off and even conversations are discouraged. http://www.sj.se/sj/jsp/polopoly.jsp?d=189&a=34903&l=en http://www.sj.se/sj/jsp/polopoly.jsp?d=189&a=34903&l=en
  - CaptainZapp 13y ago
    SNCF (The French railway company) specifically asks you by signage and by loudspeaker announcement to leave the car and make phone calls in the intersection between cars on their TGV trains.
  - qq66 13y ago
    Amtrak in the US has Quiet Cars. I was once thrown out of one for laughing too loud.
  - moogly 13y ago
    In my experience (every day for 14 months in the quiet section), some people don't give a rat's ass though, and ignore the signs and plaques. It wasn't uncommon to see/hear sub 10-yo kids there either, and woe unto you if you attempt to explain to the parent that they are sitting in a quiet section. The ultimate fault is of course on SJ for not making it more obvious that the booked seats are in the quiet section during the booking process, however.
  - codfrantic 13y ago
    Dutch railways has silent carriages too. Most people don't notice / care, but when told off they usually move or shut up :-) http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=auto&tl=en&prev=_dd&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ns.nl%2Freizigers%2Fcampagnes%2Fstiltezone http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=auto&tl=en&pr... (Google Translate)
- jrs235 13y ago
  One could always resort to childish antics such as cell phone crashing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YA1J-raGinQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YA1J-raGinQ
rm999 13y ago
Hearing only half a conversation is actually more grating than hearing a full conversation according to research (and my own personal experience): http://pss.sagepub.com/content/early/2010/09/03/0956797610382126 http://pss.sagepub.com/content/early/2010/09/03/095679761038... http://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode.cfm?id=its-not-just-you-hearing-half-a-pho-10-05-21 http://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode.cfm?id=its... And if flights are anything like Amtrak, people WILL take the opportunity to have 3 hour phone conversations when they're on a trip if they can.
- AJ007 13y ago
  Fortunately trains can be separated in to quiet cars.
- jessriedel 13y ago
  Be that as it may, I conjecture that most of the annoyance is from people's instincts that they need to talk so loudly, especially when they have trouble hearing what coming out of the phone. In fact, shouting doesn't help at all and anything much more than a whisper doesn't really help.
Camillo 13y ago
Send a text instead.
vl 13y ago
Oh, irony, is it the same Delta that had phones installed in all headrests that had credit card slot and some ridiculous fee to make a call just mere 10-15 years ago? CEO, attendants and passengers didn't mind back then. I think that they should install roaming cell phone station in every plane and charge $1/min, all providers will jump on that. Then it will sort itself out economically - it will to expensive to chat a lot, but still affordable if there is a strong need to do so.
jelled 13y ago
I feel like the service would be spotty enough that it would only work around takeoff and landing anyway. I've accidentally left my phone on several times while flying and never had service. Not sure if it was due to the altitude/speed or just the fact that 99% of the land you fly over is empty.
- valleyer 13y ago
  As happens elsewhere in the world, this would quite clearly entail having a microcell on board.

bradleyjg 13y ago

The guy behind me on the train this morming was traveling by himself. Other than the 15 minutes he spent loudly participating in a settlement conference call (violating client confidentiality I might add) he was perfectly quiet. There was no evidence that he was a compulsive chatterbox, he just found it convienient to take a call right then and didn't care how many people he bothered. While it is true that other people have been very annoying on the train by talking to each other it is not true that banning telephone calls would have no salutary effect.

nisse72 13y ago
If you'd been travelling with SJ (Swedish railway) you could have chosen a quiet section, where cell phones are expected to be turned off and even conversations are discouraged. http://www.sj.se/sj/jsp/polopoly.jsp?d=189&a=34903&l=en http://www.sj.se/sj/jsp/polopoly.jsp?d=189&a=34903&l=en
- CaptainZapp 13y ago
  SNCF (The French railway company) specifically asks you by signage and by loudspeaker announcement to leave the car and make phone calls in the intersection between cars on their TGV trains.
- qq66 13y ago
  Amtrak in the US has Quiet Cars. I was once thrown out of one for laughing too loud.
- moogly 13y ago
  In my experience (every day for 14 months in the quiet section), some people don't give a rat's ass though, and ignore the signs and plaques. It wasn't uncommon to see/hear sub 10-yo kids there either, and woe unto you if you attempt to explain to the parent that they are sitting in a quiet section. The ultimate fault is of course on SJ for not making it more obvious that the booked seats are in the quiet section during the booking process, however.
- codfrantic 13y ago
  Dutch railways has silent carriages too. Most people don't notice / care, but when told off they usually move or shut up :-) http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=auto&tl=en&prev=_dd&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ns.nl%2Freizigers%2Fcampagnes%2Fstiltezone http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=auto&tl=en&pr... (Google Translate)
jrs235 13y ago
One could always resort to childish antics such as cell phone crashing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YA1J-raGinQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YA1J-raGinQ

rm999 13y ago

Hearing only half a conversation is actually more grating than hearing a full conversation according to research (and my own personal experience): http://pss.sagepub.com/content/early/2010/09/03/0956797610382126 http://pss.sagepub.com/content/early/2010/09/03/095679761038... http://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode.cfm?id=its-not-just-you-hearing-half-a-pho-10-05-21 http://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode.cfm?id=its... And if flights are anything like Amtrak, people WILL take the opportunity to have 3 hour phone conversations when they're on a trip if they can.

AJ007 13y ago
Fortunately trains can be separated in to quiet cars.
jessriedel 13y ago
Be that as it may, I conjecture that most of the annoyance is from people's instincts that they need to talk so loudly, especially when they have trouble hearing what coming out of the phone. In fact, shouting doesn't help at all and anything much more than a whisper doesn't really help.

Camillo 13y ago

Send a text instead.

vl 13y ago

Oh, irony, is it the same Delta that had phones installed in all headrests that had credit card slot and some ridiculous fee to make a call just mere 10-15 years ago? CEO, attendants and passengers didn't mind back then. I think that they should install roaming cell phone station in every plane and charge $1/min, all providers will jump on that. Then it will sort itself out economically - it will to expensive to chat a lot, but still affordable if there is a strong need to do so.

jelled 13y ago

I feel like the service would be spotty enough that it would only work around takeoff and landing anyway. I've accidentally left my phone on several times while flying and never had service. Not sure if it was due to the altitude/speed or just the fact that 99% of the land you fly over is empty.

valleyer 13y ago
As happens elsewhere in the world, this would quite clearly entail having a microcell on board.