Cell-phones on planes: let the nightmare begin

You are trapped on a cross-country flight in crowded, smelly economy.  The five-hour flight is already a half-hour late.  You have no room.  The air is stale. Seat-belt announcements shatter what is left of your peace of mind. The person next to you is much too big for his little seat. So you think things can't get worse?  Now he pulls out his cell phone. 

Yes, the FCC is considering allowing cell phone use on planes. According to the linked WaPo article, the commissioners are inclined to let "others" work out the "etiquette" issues.   "Others?"  Who might that be?  The passengers themselves?  Forget about it.

A self-help plan occurred to me a couple of weeks ago as I waited for a plane in the Indianapolis airport.  Just across from me a guy filled the terminal with news of the accounting problems the university he worked for was having regarding a major gift, and how he was planning to deal with them.  He was talking so loudly I could barely make out the details of the LLC operating agreement the guy down the row was drafting over the phone.

Here's my plan: do what you can to piece together the details of the conversation.  Then ask the speaker some questions to fill in the blanks.  If the speaker is annoyed, flustered and suddenly reticent, point out that you're curious enough to turn to Google for help with the rest.  It would be nice if you could figure out your seatmate's name, from the conversation, briefcase, laptop screen, or whatever.

This won't help with conversations about the kid's baseball game.  But I've found that this isn't the most annoying problem, and I have some sympathy for the road warriors separated from their families and wanting to stay in touch.  But doing this on a large scale might cut the rude, self-important creeps down to size.

PS:  USA Today catches up with this story, link courtesy of Prof B.

PPS:  Knowledge Problem has a nice illustration of a situation in which my proposed self-help remedy might work.

Comments

[BigFire]

It's not exactly the end of the world. They've had paid phone on domestic flight for at least 14 years.

[Matt]

Better they talk to somebody who cares than bother _me_ all through the flight. I say let 'em use their cell phones...they'll be a lot less likely to get offended when I'd rather read a book.

It'd also have to be nice not to have to worry about keeping my office informed about my flight information.

[Robert Schwartz]

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