Originally Posted by jimrpa
This isn't a cheerful topic to bring up, but after the London Transit attacks last year, the authorities had difficulties contacting friends, relatives, and/or loved ones of victims. A very good suggestion that came out of this was to program an entry in your cell phone, blackberry, or whatever called "ICE" (In Case of Emergency). The airlines may not always have the right contact information for people you'd want contacted in the event of an emergency.
Some people may carry electronic devices that are "locked" by company policy. For example, my Blackberry is "locked" by default, requiring a password to be entered before the device will display the contacts list or any other information. In that case, there is a "Lock" screen with a customizable message. Our customizable message asks any finder of the device to contact our service desk, which is available 24/7/365 and has access to our emergency contact info.
Please, take a couple of minutes today and program an ICE entry into your cell phone, blackberry or other device.
Not to be grim or flip...but I believe it's been reported that everyone on board died in the fire resulting from the crash. It's very unlikely that cell phones, BlackBerries, etc. would survive such an incident. While I heartily endorse the ICE concept (I personally have an ICE contact listed in my phone), I'd say in the event of air travel you're better off making sure that your frequent flier account lists an ICE contact (if possible), that you take advantage of any ICE options when purchasing your ticket and that you kick an email out to a relative/friend/NOK when booking a trip. Given the destructive forces involved in an aircraft accident, there's no way to count on something you put on the plane surviving.