Mobile Phones in Airplanes

I read somewhere that the American airlines are thinking of allowing passengers talk on their cellphones while they are in flight. You know when I read that I was thinking that at last, someone realised that cellphones do not interfere with navigation systems of aeroplanes! So called safety experts had long worried that cellphones can do that. I will let you into a secret, many of us don't actually switch our cellphones off during flights. For us flying from Brunei, it does not really matter as once you are over open water, there is no network to be connected to but if it is on, you can be automatically linked once your plane flies over land again. I have often thought that it was a bit ridiculous with these multimillion dollar planes, something as small and ubiquitous as a cellphone could interfere with the navigation systems.

Though on the upside of it, having a ban on cellphones can be good too. People don't talk on the phone while they are in aeroplanes for instance. Unless you have the most unfortunate luck of being seated next to or right in front of extremely rude people - which happens surprisingly rarely - air travel is fairly quiet. Air travel is already not exactly the most comfortable of all journeys. The seats are tiny and cramped, the food is okay but nothing much to shout about, the air is dry and most frighteningly we discovered that probably laden with germs as well. So not having to listen to people gabble into their mobile phones at least mitigate or reduce some of the discomfort.

Come to think of it, maintaining the ban on cellphones would actually be to everyone's benefit. Imagine if you are trapped in your seat and have to eavesdrop unintentionally to phone calls to someone who talks on the phone telling his mother about his love life or to a woman quarrelling with her boyfriend. Imagine being seated next to these people for a couple of hours. This can mean yelling and screaming and boasting and complaining for almost all the time you're sealed in that sardine can of an aeroplane. If the ban on cellphones is no longer there, this scenario will become a reality. The only people who will benefit from this is the phone companies. At the moment, I have to admit that it's pretty peaceful.

I don't know whether the removal of this cell phone ban will ever be extended to other flights other than the American sectors. If this was to happen in Brunei, we have a choice of maintaining that ban otherwise I would suggest that we all take our ipods and our headphones because our quiet flight has now turned into a nightmarish market place.