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“I am steamed. Smoke is coming out of my ears. And once again, it’s because of the cost of air travel.” That’s how my latest column for ABCNews.com begins - and I’m not steamed about the cost of a ticket or shelling out extra for checked bags. I’m steamed about having to pay $349 for “noise-cancelling” Bose headphones - to kill all the cell phone chatter. Here’s why:
I also talk about how the internet is coming to U.S. airlines - which seems to have everyone panicking about porn. So I have a couple of suggestions:
Well? See the entire column here. And let me know what you think. |



Hey Rick,
Do you really think someone is going to reserve a ticket in the “porn” section of the plane? And, don’t forget, one “section” of the plane will be literally one row from the family of 4 sitting behind you in the “internet” section.
I get where you’re coming from and frankly I have mixed feelings about cell phones in particular, but I’m not sure about your “sectioning” idea (although that would be a marketer’s dream!)
How about certain times within the flight that you can use a cell phone? The flight attendants will love having to police that.. but it would allow those who want to sleep in the middle of a long flight to do so. Too bad about short flights.
Well… that’s my two cents. I’m going to keep an eye out for your testing project in the coming weeks.
Comment by Myrna — October 2, 2008 @ 9:40 am
It is bad enough that we have to put up with habitual cell phone users on the ground (at the store, gym, the bus, etc) but sometimes you can move away. On the plane you are a captive audience whether you like it or not. (I have a friend that calls someone whenever she is driving so she will have someone to talk to for her entire trip) Perhaps little cubical like phone booths should be added to the plane for the cell phone users.
Comment by Bob — October 2, 2008 @ 10:54 am
I’ve already contacted Bose about the effectiveness of their noise canceling headphones for cell phone conversations.
Buying them will NOT help you.
Contact your congressperson to vote FOR HR 5788 - a bill to prevent cell phone use on planes.
Comment by lynn williams — October 2, 2008 @ 3:46 pm
What’s all the fuss about chatter on air planes? I can never get a signal at 30,000 ft. regardless of the carrier.
Also, I have a personal friend who flies for a legacy carrier, (captain) and he tells me if every passenger left their phone on during flight, it would NOT affect safety or avionics one iota. Comments?
Comment by Roger Dodger — October 3, 2008 @ 2:25 pm
It’s bad enough that I am required to listen to the “chatty cathy’s” that don’t stop talking for an entire 7 hour flight, I can’t imagine being subject to listening to people speaking on their cell phone for that time period. There needs to be a place where we are free from listening to other peoples private conversations.
Comment by Lauren — October 4, 2008 @ 11:59 pm