Passenger using cell phone in flight
 

What to do if a passenger seated close to you starts using his cell phone while in the air?

(I stared at him until he asked me what I wanted. My answer was, I would appreciate him following the rules.)

I have and will continue to make the FA aware of the transgression and if pushed I walk up to the chatter and loudly tell them to turn off their phone while in flight ... have had great success with both!

I watched a guy continue to use his blackberry to send email from gate through to the first few minutes of flight today, despite being told 3x to stop using it by FA.

I think the FAs should be within their right to take the device away.

they can kick you off the flight, but often the person will stop for a few minutes until the plane is away from the jet way.

This was shortly before landing, more or less on final approach.

With seat belts on, and the (single) FA (on this CRJ) already strapped. So, no way to call him, which I would obviously have done otherwise.

I often use my Blackberry in flight to catch up on email (but I just save everything as drafts and transmit them once I'm at the airport). The radio is off the whole time, but I have seen people give me weird looks (probably those who don't understand that you can use it without it being in transmit mode).

In the case I described, the guy was actually talking on his phone.

I have seen an LH FA walk up to a Pax yakking on a phone, snatch it out of their and flip it shut. The Pax was told to turn it off three times prior to this event.

After the door shut, as we pushed from the gate at JFK, once or twice more on taxi, and then as we made the left turn to the runway she walked up, grabbed it out of his hand and snapped it shut. He was pissed and yelling at her, she just walked off with the phone.

I say.....Good For Her!

Although we can debate whether the use of wireless and other electronic devices really does represent a significant risk, what is a fact is that this person was not simply violating airline policy but breaching Transport Canada regulations (both the use of the device and refusing to follow the lawful instructions of the crew). For that the person should be thankful that a more significant consequence than a temporary confiscation of the device didn't occur.

A Calgarian, no doubt...:p

Undoubtedly.

FWIW, actually, he was speaking French on the phone.

Seriously though, has the use of cell phones really been determined to be a problem? I thought they were considering exclusive agreements with certain mobile providers.

What? Nobody speaks French in YYC? :eek: :p

Well, I do.

(Incidentally, this was on a BOS-YOW flight. Kind of far from here.)

NOPE:D

I suspect not, but does that actually matter? Should this sort of thing really be a matter of individual judgment?

In any case, I see this sort of thing all the time. Look around the J cabin during final descent and watch the all hands leap to their buzzing BlackBerries.

Boeing - Electromagnetic Interference From Passenger-Carried Portable Electronic Devices
UK CAA Report - Interference Levels In Aircraft at Radio Frequencies used by Portable Telephones

My point is not that these devices are harmless, but rather that it shouldn't be up to individuals to decide for themselves where they stand on an issue like this.

But they do. It's the "question authority" generation after all. If it's inconvenient, we don't believe it.

If you are seated close to the person the answer is absolutely. :mad:

i watched a guy do this catty corner/across the aisle from me on a flight a few days ago. his blackberry was ON (blinking light) and he was scrolling, typing, etc. as we started take-off. again, without getting into whether or not it's really dangerous, those are the rules, dude. i didn't do anything other than stare--like the op, fa's were strapped into jump seats already so couldn't see him--and he did eventually put the damn thing in his pocket as we took off...but clearly, he didn't feel the rules applied to him, and that's the kind of thing that drives me bananas.

i contemplated saying something after the fact to the fa, but that seemed like a page from a kindergarten handbook (see: tattling) so other than shoot him dirty looks from time to time, i did nothing. if he'd been sitting next to me, or even directly across i might have said something, but i was in 3a and he was in 2b, so it would have been really awkward. just annoys me how some folks feel they're sooo special. :rolleyes:

Say loudly, "Sir, in seat XX, please turn your phone off NOW." If you're speaking in a loud, commanding tone that a lot of other people around you can hear, the shaming factor has great power. I do this when provoked on the Amtrak Quiet Car, and it works like a charm. If the offender has no compunction about endangering his/her fellow passengers (or just breaking the rules in extremely irritating fashion), then you shouldn't feel bad about speaking as if you're disciplining a three-year-old.

Just make the other passengers aware that this person is using his/her electronics while they are supposed to be turned off. Also, complain to the FA and note that you're afraid for your safety. If the guy insists on doing it, ask to make a formal complaint with the police at the airport where you are landing.

As someone said, provided that you are above 10k feet, BB's do have a no antenna mode and the email is stored on them. You can usually tell if they are active as the light on them will flash when they get new email. Reception is not very good at flight so I doubt anyone would use it to do that once you're above 10k feet. It would only drain the battery and they wouldn't really get a data signal.

French? Not likely. Quebecoise? Mais Oui.

There is the courtesy aspect of not using cell phones of course but the real issue re cell phones really concerns the effect it will have on an emergency evacution or other aircraft crisis:
-possibly interfere with others hearing the Cabin crew directions.
-possibly miss the cabin crews directions themselves.
-introduce possible projectiles into the cabin that can kill or seriously injure.
-Maybe the phone doesn't become a projectile. Maybe the user just drops it. I've no doubt, in some evacutions, some folks will actually stoop to find or search for their dropped phone, palm, etc., obstructing peoples path's.

I've left my cell phone in my carry one stowed in the overhead compartment.

Arrived at the destination, walked off the plane and realized it has been on the whole flight.


The battery was just about dead.

--Russ

French Cowboy! :D

Continually trying to get a signal a 30,000 feet through the metal skin of the aircraft tends to do that to a cell phone battery.

FYI, the proposals to put cell service on board would provide a mini-cell tower on the plane, which in turn would cause cell phones to use a lot less power.

For anyone who's interested in the whole "are cell phones dangerous onboard" issue, there are plenty of really long FT threads on the subject. And very little agreement.

But the question in this thread is what to do if someone decides to use their phone in flight. Generally, I point out to them that they're not allowed to use it (as though they just weren't aware -- yeah, right :rolleyes:) and that gets most people to stop. If that didn't work, I'd certainly bring it to the attention of the FA's.

I think that saying something to the offender might spark retaliation in some form. It may not in most cases, I'd hate for me to be the one statistic.

I have seen people talk/type after the aircraft door has closed and as mentioned before, as the aircraft increases altitude, the signal dies out anyways. You may see a pax that is using their mobile, I am sure there are plenty more that never turn them off. Pick your poison.

A close friend who flys the A320 for America West told me that cell phones don't cause noticable problems for the pilots unless its someone in the rear of a small aircraft such as a RJ.

From my experience, my T-mobile phone does not even work at cruise altitude.

I would say it depends on the cabin crew.

For example: Once flying into Kuwait on BA, just seconds before even the landing gear came down the guy on the window seat (I was in the centre aisle, he has no-one next to him) was whispering in his phone. I caught the eye of the flight attendent and just gave a subtle point to the guy and did the international sign-language for "phone" (fingers to ear). Well, this girl JUMPED from her seat and firmly shouted - as only a BA flight attendant can - "turn that phone off IMMEDIATELY".

On flights with fairly useless crew (I usually fly Thai between KWI/DXB and Bangkok) I just lean over or turn round - depending where the offender is - look menacing (it's a gift) and say clearly PHONE ... OFF. And it works, but this is with Arabs who don't wish to prolong the humiliation.

In general though, judging by the lack of action by MOST crews, clearly they don't think there's a danger of using phones on board. So I think they should either forget the whole phones-off announcements and let air rage ensure, OR if it IS a hazard, enforce what they're saying over the loudspeakers.