Cell Phones

The Duke would approve

May 7, 2008Harriet BaskasCell Phones, Power OutletsJohn Wayne Airport

Some welcome and useful improvements at Orange County’s John Wayne Airport (SNA) in Santa Ana, California:

Travelers with laptops, cell phones and other electronic devices will be pleased to find that power outlets have been conveniently placed between the seat backs at Gates 2 – 14.

(Photo courtesy John Wayne Airport)

The airport is also proud of its restroom renovations. The Terminal B restrooms (across from Gate 4) have already re-opened. Restrooms in Terminal A (across from Gate 11) will re-open this summer.

SNA’s lavatories aren’t just new, they’re “environmentally responsible,” with low-flush toilets and “Zurn urinals that use only one-eighth of a gallon of water – well under the federal standard of 1 gallon maximum per flush.”

Air France testing in-flight cell phone service

May 2, 2008Harriet BaskasCell PhonesAir France

Through the end of June, Air France is testing cell-phone service on one of its A318 airplanes.

Passengers boarding this plane don’t know cell-phone service is available until a flight attendant makes an announcement or they look in the seat back pocket and find this laminated notice.

Um.. unless someone has taken it home as a souvenir.

Cell-phones on airplanes: are you ready?

May 1, 2008Harriet BaskasCell Phones, Etiquette, RulesEurope

New European Union (EU) rules make it likely that travelers will be able to place cell phone calls on flights in EU airspace as soon as this summer. Air France is already testing such a service on one “cell-phones-allowed” plane that I got to fly on yesterday between Paris and Geneva.

Technically, the service isn’t quite ready-for-prime-time, but passengers I spoke with were just fine with that. “No way do I want to listen to someone talking on their cell phone next to me on a plane,” one man told me, “I hope this never gets going.”

Will in-flight cell-phone service be offered in the United States anytime soon? Not if some lawmakers have their way. Read about their plan to ban in-flight cell-phone service forever in my Well-Mannered Traveler column on MSNBC.com.

A “moment of tranquility” before the phone rings

April 7, 2008Harriet BaskasCell Phones, Etiquette

Air France-KLM is currently testing in-flight mobile phone services on some European routes. Today the European Union (EU) announced that other airlines may offer the service as well – as long as they comply with licensing and equipment regulations and keep a lid on the cost of those high-flying calls.

Still, uh, up in the air, is the issue of in-flight phone etiquette. If the price is right, plenty of travelers will want to use the service, although one EU spokesman hopes that “some people will still use the aircraft as a moment of tranquility and not disturb other passengers.”

And who will regulate that?

Heading to London?

April 3, 2008Harriet BaskasCell PhonesAir France, London

One of the new airline routes introduced on March 31 (2008) as part of the EU – US Open Skies Agreement is daily Los Angeles-London service on Air France.

Passengers on this route cannot yet use Air France’s new in-flight cell-phone service (that’s being tested on one airplane that flies within Europe) but they can watch live afternoon news bulletins from the BBC World.

One topic the BBC is certainly covering: the story of airline bankruptcies (Aloha, ATA) and the ongoing fiasco in Heathrow’s Terminal 5. British Airways is still canceling flights (schedules might be normal by Saturday) and trying to reunite passengers with checked baggage that’s been stuck at the airport since opening day.

FedEx has been called in to help ease the backlog and a convoy of “lorries” (sounds more dashing than “diesel trucks,” doesn’t it?) has taken thousands of bags to Milan for sorting.

Milan! Instead of handing out discount vouchers to inconvenienced passengers, the airline should offer free “baggage reunion” trips to Milan instead.

Another reason to pack earplugs

April 2, 2008Harriet BaskasCell Phones, Etiquette

Since December 2007 Air France has been testing a service that allows travelers to use their cell phones in-flight for communication services that include SMS and e-mail, but not for voice-calls.

As of today, travelers can also use their cell-phones to make and receive voice calls – but only on one Airbus A318 that’s used for various routes in Europe.

Seat-back leaflets and cabin crew announcements will let travelers know if they’re on the “lucky flight.” Feedback will be gathered to determine if customers prefer data only or data and voice.

For now, the system allows the downloading of email attachments, unlimited SMS and emails, and up to six simultaneous calls. But OnAir, the company providing the service, says adding phone call capacity is easy.

Hopefully not too easy….

For more information, read the Air France press release.