mritchie

What's your experience or input on airphones?

Are they a useful tool, or a toy for the rich (or those with rich expense accounts)? Is the quality any good? Has anyone checked email on it? Any special precautions or things we should be aware of?

I did find it funny that when I actually read all the directions and features of those phones, I discovered that you can use them to call other seats on the same plane! I'm waiting for the next pro-Israeli right-wing Chuck Norris hijacking movie to incorporate this feature.

MIKE MAHONEY

Save your bucks. Your best best is the old fashioned "pay phone" on the ground. I see no reason to make a habit of using airphones. I don't need to impress my fellow travelers in either first or coach class with such frivilous things. The last thing I want to see or use is a phone with the one hour or five and half hours at 37,000 feet I have by myself.(Peace and quite, no disruptions etc...)

Just my two cents.

Mike

timfucius

I think those phones are great for emergencies. I've been tempted enough to try to use it for modem access. Wouldn't it be cool if I could write on Flyertalk my up-to-the-minute flight report? It's just too bad that they cost a fortune. I also feel useasy in making a phone call when I'm surrounded by people eavesdropping on my conversations.

I'm not sure if this is correct but I belive that one airline, forgot which, offered a 15 minute call for a flat rate. Was I dreaming?

But in all, I believe that the phone is there for a major convenience. I too wait to get to the airport to make my round of calls, check my voice mails and my pager messages. And I agree with Mike... the peace and quiet 5 and a half hours.

And one day we'll all have our Iridium phones.

JIMBOLIGUY

I agree -- they are expensive (I had a $50+ bill one time).

In terms of quality -- they are good. I only had one problem and got a credit from AT&T for the bad connection.

I have only used them for emergencies. I got delayed at LGA and almost missed a connection. I was able to get hold of my travel agent and she got me rebooked.

For modem use, I would not recommend it. The phones are only good for (ready for this) 4,800 bps (thats not a typo -- Four Thousand Eight Hundred). FlyerTalk would be painful at that speed. I will wait until they improve the connection speed.

You are right, there is an airline (or maybe a phone company) that you can have unlimited use for $15. I think I saw it on Delta which means the offer was from GTE.

--Jim

Catman

I only use the airphones if I need to get my company or home in an emergency and if I can get some bonus points. Quality is good, but so expensive.

The best place to make a phone call is a pay phone. Even better if you have a pre=paid phone card that earns you miles when you charge it. I have one with United where I charge 50 bucks every month or so and get 500 miles. The card's great because if anyone should get my phone card number I only use a few bucks and don't end up getting charged to calls to Saudi arabia, Beijing, Mecca and Houston! CATMAN

Ricechex

Well I assume they are expensive. A man next to me was on one the entire flight, and he was in coach. But what ended up to be a mystery was that he claimed he was a major baseball player. I didnt know him, but he was big and I guess he could have been.

Catman

Baseball/sports figures and movie "stars" and
some business executives (in the Sir Richard vein) can afford airphones. So the baseball
sporty dorty guy you sat next to RiceChex
must have the contract to pay for the airphone.

My company raised heck when I submitted a bill for two airphone calls to THEM because my bosses told me I had to call back before I got back to NYC. Since I couldn't send Reuters Carrier Pigeons and my Cats can't speak English they had to swallow the bill (it was $15.89! I think that's affordable!) CATMAN

Travelcrazy

Phones are great when your wife is due to pick you up at the airport and you get onto an earlier flight on standby, or you sit on the runway for three hours and are due in late so that she does not arrive too early. Additionally, AA had a promotion last year - first five minutes of all incoming calls for free. My wife and secretary new all my flights and I always registered using the same number. So, my wife used to call me to see if I wa on time. The promotion lasted 6 months.

[This message has been edited by Travelcrazy (edited 01-17-99).]

DutchBoy

Sorry, but I hate these onboard telephones in the seats. It has happened so many times to me that I am sitting to someone who feels he/she needs to call the office, the neighbours, the kids, the neighbours' dog, his wife, her husband, etc. And of course the connections aren't very clear - so they start yelling all throughout the flight.


And did anyone notice that the new busines and first class seats on United have gotten a lot narrower to make room for these darned telephones?

Suggestion: instead of putting a phone in each seat, place them near a pantry or the toilets. Passengers can still make their urgent phone calls, installation won't be as expensive, and airlines would be able to advertise the 'widest seats' in the air!

Merry

One of the things that really annoyed me last year (and there were many) was a flight on Emirates from London to Dubai.

The guy next to me spent the entire flight scribbling notes and then calling the Flight Attendants to fax them for him. It really got my goat.

I understand a quick call to say your plans have changes/you are on an earlier flight etc. But I always think anyone who has to make calls on a flight must be really poor (well "poor" isn't the word I think) at their job.

baobad

I have been keeping quiet about this issue - but many of you will remember my venting about the idiot in the seat beside me who ruined a transatlantic flight by yakking inanely for hours on end.

The phones may well be useful when you are late/plans change unexpectedly, but there is no reason to spend more than a few minutes using them, and I don't think that they're necessary at every seat - having one phone for every ten business class passengers should suffice - and those phones should be accommodated in 'neutral' space.

I appreciate my time in the air as a calm period when I can organise my thoughts without outside demands or distractions, and agree with Merry that anyone who overuses the phone is likely to be a bad time/work manager!

(It's okay for you to call your wife, TC...)