In-Flight Internet Headed For Bumpy Landing? > Worth It

Worth It

The problem is more than likely the fact that for the cost of a 24 hour use of airline internet service or so, you could get a full month of service from your house... seriously... that's a pretty epic markup.

Yeah, no shit it's more expensive to have on a plane, but THAT much more? What are we looking at here... about a 3000% markup? Most people ain't gonna pay that... period. Especially in this economy, but even in the best of economic times, you'll have maybe one in five people willing to pay that. And all of them will probably be flying first class...

There's an idea. Package it with first class tickets but make it an option for everyone.

It's a business, and they have a supply and demand. They will adjust their prices to try and make the most profit. Clearly this type of service is still hit or miss and has a long way to go before solidly establishing itself. In a 3 hour flight, I could just as easily watch a movie on my netbook or play Peggle to make the time pass more quickly.

The feature that I would love to be able to use is VoIP, which is prohibited, at least for the passengers. A Skype video call at 30,000 feet would be awesome. Heck, if it wasn't for the insurance companies, we could all be watching live videos of passengers screaming as their plane makes a water landing on the Hudson River.

Just what we need is another person yabbering away their conversation for the whole plane to hear. For the last 4yrs I flew almost every week and it's amazing the people I see sitting on their ass in the terminal find the need to suddenly make a call as soon as they sit down on the plane.

'Oh hi I'm on the plane!'

'Oh hi we just landed!'

Now I'll get to hear 'Hey dude I'm calling you over Skype from 30,000 feet in a plane!!'
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Ever try stuffing a melted marshmallow up a wildcat's ass? It can be done, but you have to like your job. - This Is The Way The World Ends by James Morrow - Join a DC club, it can't hurt you!

"Oh hi we just landed" is a bad call to make?

Remove the stick from your butt please.

What's wrong with waiting 5 minutes until you get off the plane? I text my message so people don't have to hear me yapping on the phone. Simple courtesy. A trait you apparently lack.

What airport do you use? At Dulles, there is oftentimes 20 minutes or longer before the plane is parked at the gate. Depending on the situation, I may need to give somebody that is picking me up advanced warning, so that I'm not waiting at the curb for 45 minutes or longer. You can't deal with a 30 second call telling somebody the plane just landed, the flight was good, and a simple "I love you"?

Oh, and this was posted somewhere above North Carolina using GoGo's in-flight service.

reply to Ericthorn
If someone MAKING a phone call and speaking to another individual bothers you, you might need to consider going and living in the woods somewhere where you won't encounter anyone else.

Making a 15 second phone call to my grandparents to say in an appropriate volume level voice, "Hey Grandpa, my plane just landed and I'll be de-boarding here in a minute. See you soon!" bothers you and you consider it to be not courteous, you're the one that's wrong here.
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Come play Mafia! | My Picture Blog

He mentioned nothing of the sort. I can easily imagine the poster being angry with me if he was sitting next to me even with an appropriate volume level.
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Come play Mafia! | My Picture Blog

reply to jmn1207
What airport? Um.. every major city in the US and a lot of other little ones you've never heard of (try Liberal, KS)

At least you emailed it in and didn't have to disrupt other passengers with your trivial info via a Skype call with GoGo.

They have these neat things at most airports now called a 'cell phone waiting area'. It's there so you can call them them when you GET OFF the plane, have your bags, and they can come get you. If not, wait outside the airport, send a txt, and they come get you. Why is that such a problem? If you're waiting at the curb 45 minutes then you're obviously not telling them you're available until you're at the curb. And really, at any major airport, you're going to wait a bit until you see them. Big deal? No.. really?

And yes, I've been to Dulles more than once...
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Ever try stuffing a melted marshmallow up a wildcat's ass? It can be done, but you have to like your job. - This Is The Way The World Ends by James Morrow - Join a DC club, it can't hurt you!

reply to drew
It's just as if you were in a theater. I don't care about your 'volume'. What's makes it so important that you can't hold your call until you're actually OFF THE FRIGGIN PLANE!? I can understand if you're delayed on the tarmac and going to be late, that's one thing. But you landed, and you're going to be on time.. why do I need to hear you say 'Hi Honey, I've just landed and I'll be there soon' when you could say the same friggin thing 5 mins later 'Hi Honey just got off the plane and on the to baggage claim'

Ok, they don't have txt. I'll give that.. hey, it's only 2009 and some grand whatevers can't read a txt message because you say 'Im hr lndd b thr ina sc'.

There is absolutely no reason to have to verbally call someone the minute they say 'cell phones are ok now'.

Maybe most of you aren't old enough to remember when you they had to wait for you at the gate because there wasn't such a thing as txting, email, or god forbid, a cell phone. They had to watch these things called monitors
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Ever try stuffing a melted marshmallow up a wildcat's ass? It can be done, but you have to like your job. - This Is The Way The World Ends by James Morrow - Join a DC club, it can't hurt you!

reply to drew
No, you can wait till you're off the plane. If you were at an opera and it was almost over and you're parents were coming to pick you up, do you make a phone call and say 'Mom, Dad, the play is almost over and I'll be out soon.'? We pay more for a flight than most operas.. what is the difference?

For pete's sake they CAN'T COME TO THE BOARDING AREA! They are past security, and if it's friggin grandpa and he loves you, he's probably already at the waiting area I hope.

I'm not trying to compare an opera to a plane flight, but the instance is still the same. You're not in public area. You are in an enclosed area where I am forced to hear you.

If 5-10 minutes is problem, don't fly.. drive it, then you can yap all you want.
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Ever try stuffing a melted marshmallow up a wildcat's ass? It can be done, but you have to like your job. - This Is The Way The World Ends by James Morrow - Join a DC club, it can't hurt you!

Jesus, let it go. If it were such a problem they wouldn't allow it at all.

reply to Ericthorn
Do you get this unreasonably angry when someone talks to the person next to them?

Not a bit.. that's conversational...

And I'm not 'angry' about it lol.. It's more that it's just funny that people are so self important that they need to pull out their phone and call someone right away.

It's all about courtesy - there is absolutely no reason you need to call them as soon as the plane has landed. There are very few reasons you might need to call them before take off. Period.
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Ever try stuffing a melted marshmallow up a wildcat's ass? It can be done, but you have to like your job. - This Is The Way The World Ends by James Morrow - Join a DC club, it can't hurt you!

In your not so humble opinion.

You've indicated that a plane is some magic place where the person hearing the other side of the conversation isn't there physically, it's rude. If I talked to someone to my side in the same volume as I did on the phone there is no difference than your asburd pet peeve.
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Come play Mafia! | My Picture Blog

reply to Ericthorn
Give me a break. I was astounded at the intensity of the backlash at the proposal to support mobile phones on airplanes. One would have thought the FCC was proposing the end of the world.

The really funny part is that we had in-flight phones for years and nobody even seemed to notice. Airplanes are so noisy that even loud conversations rarely carry past a few seats, and if I were ever bothered by an especially loud and chatty passenger I would simply ask him politely to finish up.

Why do we have to outlaw something just because you fear being possibly annoyed by it one day?

reply to drew
Yes, it is a magical place. It's why they turn off the cabin lighting.. take a flight overseas and the stewardess will ask you to close your window. It's one of the reasons there are noise cancelling headphones (beyond the ambient noise). Obviously you are one of those that says my personal conversation is more important than anyone else's comfort zone.

There is a huge difference beyond talking to a fellow passenger then the need to break open your iPhone and tell someone you've 'landed'.
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Ever try stuffing a melted marshmallow up a wildcat's ass? It can be done, but you have to like your job. - This Is The Way The World Ends by James Morrow - Join a DC club, it can't hurt you!