Does iChat work on their network? If so you got yourself a VoIP.

Mikestan

@catfewd: ii think it has more to do with sharing bandwidth than making more money at this point.

What would the pilots/stewardesses do if we could call their superiors and complain about no free soda?

SmBizMan

@N@tedog: Which of these do you think is more likely?

A: headrest phones didn't survive because airlines were trying to preserve a last measure of civility in our ever-ruder world

B: headrest phones didn't survive because people weren't willing to pay the exorbitant price to make novelty phone calls, making it a poor business model

I suggest that B is closer to the truth. No business that jams you into a cramped space for six hours, charges you for water, and (as a grand gesture) throws a bag of peanuts your way is too concerned about your peace of mind.

dc-united

If we swear off VOIP the terrorists win!

trendspotter

@Noobs-R-Us: except that was really funny.

venomous_duck41

Noobs: I loved that prank!

Re phone chatter on planes. It is RUDE. Best solution when the guy next to you talks on the phone: Whistle loudly.

pkinsale

I agree, they haven't figured out how to charge $5.99/minute for VoIP calls so instead they're banning them. If they were at all concerned about the 'comfort' or a 'pleasant atmosphere' then they should start with comfortable seating, secluded areas for passengers traveling with children, decent food, free alcohol, not destroying my checked luggage, employing personnel at the airports that don't treat me like I'm cattle on the way to the slaughterhouse, I could go on, and I'm sure anyone that's ever flew could as well. Give me 3 people talking over VoIP over a screaming baby ANY day, especially if my seat was spacious/comfortable enough for me to put earplugs in and go to sleep.

Bah. Boo to airlines.

catfewd

@phi: Because it would be annoying as hell to have the guy in the seat next to you on the phone for an entire flight. If calls can be made for free, people are more likely to use it.

FuzzysFriedChicken

@Noobs-R-Us: "should" is such an ambiguous term...

@schrosa: No. They weren't. They owned up to the consequences pretty much immediately.

I'm guessing anybody doing this would get about 15 seconds into a conversation before somebody noticed the "person on the phone" / "crazy person talking to himself" and would react accordingly.

More than should or shouldn't, I can't imagine those 15 seconds would be worth the consequences. (See, e.g., my first born child.)

92BuickLeSabre

@phi: An intrusion on another revenue generating enterprise isn't what's at stake here. It's privacy and peace and quite. There's more than one reason why there are no more phones in the back of headrests on airliners anymore.

N@tedog

data is data, why do they care other than the fact that they can't overcharge for their own voice service.

phi

@Noobs-R-Us: And they were so upset they got banned/punished.

schrosa

"Just because you can, doesn't mean you should."

Kind of reminds me of the time when the Giz turned off all those monitors at the CES...hummm.

Noobs-R-Us

This seems to be yet another in a long line of airlines saying one thing and meaning another.
@catfewd:
@dc-united:

Agreed. Airlines are corporations, and as such often care more about the bottom line than customer freedom/satisfaction. It's essentially the whole cellphone thing again. They never said that talking on cellphones was banned because it was rude. It supposedly ruined instrument readings or blah blah blah (see the FCC rules on just about every piece of electronics).

Well now they have in-flight wi-fi? Great, you should be able to do everything you can do on the regular internet, but you agreed to the terms of service? Too bad. You have no reason to cry when they don't let you yak into a headset.

Human Bomb

@Rob C: Are you kidding? low price? I might be booking with the wrong websites then. The prices went up way before the gas trouble started, so I don't accept that as an excuse.

But here's the problem with the pricing; in Europe you can show up at the airport at the last minute and they'll put you on the flight practically for free, enough to cover taxes and small costs, plane takes off and all the seats are full, gas is paid for. Show up to the airport in America and try to get a last minute flight and they charge $800 more than the original ticket price. Naturally no one would buy it so the plane takes off with empty seats. Explain low price on airfares please?

Tell me there

catfewd

where is the fuzzy line between "live" voip and recording a soundbyte and emailing it. hehe

krystar

@catfewd:

That's the price you pay for paying such a low price on airfares. If you wanted that kind of service you'd better be prepared to pay double what you do now. Flying used to be only for the elite, and it was priced accordingly for the extremely high level of service. To make it more accessible to the general public it transitioned slowly from elite, expensive travel with everything included, to cheap travel for all, with much less service and charges for everything.

Recently flying air canada, I found out one doesn't even get PEANUTS anymore. Everything is charged for. $2 for nuts. Just think about that.

Rob C

@SmBizMan: I have to disagree, if you look at any of the news on airlines its ONLY about making money, and the hot new thing right now is to make money off of things that used to be free.

Those little fans over your seat? I bet they're going to put a $.25c slot right next to them in a while.

Its been getting so bad that I make an ass of myself to get to the front of the line during boarding so i can walk through and grab my own blanket before they a) tell me they don't have any b) charge me $3.99 for it.

Paid for a WATER on my way back from LGA? No, its about money, and if they can't make money from it they don't want us to use it.

catfewd

As a very frequent inter-continental flier, my worst nightmare is having that dork next to me blab on and on and for free too!! VoIP should be illegal the same way smoking is. It's technically possible to smoke on an airplane too, you know...

User Formerly known as Arelar

@keenfrenzy: If you've flown any other non-US carrier you would know that they all provide a consistently better experience than US carriers.

sxr7171

@Rob C:

Weird, I flew Air Canada just a few weeks ago and got snacks, soda, earphones for the onboard entertainment system on the back of the seat, and watched IronMan on the flight from Calgary to Chicago, all for free from my coach-class seat.

I found this, my first Air Canada flight, to have been the best airline experience I have ever had, and I fly a lot. I assumed it was because Canada has a relatively strong economy right now and isn't facing as many financial problems as the US airlines are facing.

keenfrenzy

HEY !... I just got my light bulb over my head to turn on for a second.

Remenber Waaaaaaay back when there was a smoking and non-smoking section in airplanes??????

Create a VoIP / cell and a non-VoIP / non-Cell section and everyone is happy!

Thank You very much, You're welcome!

(I think my light bulb just burned for good)

:)

aec007

I still haven't figured out where there is so much animosity to a crying baby. If noise bothers you that much you can always use ear plugs or headphones. I find adults that should know better, having loud conversations on their phones, much more annoying than a baby who is upset by (dirty diaper, hunger, pain, insert your choice here) and has crying as her only response.

Veeber

@aec007: Good in theory, not so much in practice. Just like the smoke didnt stay in the smoking section, the chatter will carry all through the plane. You also have to account for the ONE guy who wanted a seat in the smoking/chatting section and the seat wasnt available, so he feels he is entitled to do what he wants since he thinks its the airlines fault he didnt get to sit where he wanted and smokes/chatters in the non section anyway.

Curves

I dunno... by this logic they should remove all those pay-per-call phones in the back of every seats head rest...

It's ok to chat on the plane... as long as you pay their obnoxious fees... but when they don't make any money on the deal they claim its for the benefit of the other passengers... Hogwash!

aupton

@N@tedog: Um, They are still on every plane I fly on. And I fly a few times a month

DoPeY5007

@Curves:
Yeah I know... but now planes have movable partitions and seats are bolted on rails, allowing any airline to reconfigure the planes with ease.
Make the partition with an electrostatic mat facing the no-cell/ no VoIP section, turn all repeaters and WIFI hot stops on that section and or require logins per ticket # (something easy to do) and Presto!, you have a completely isolated cabin in the plane without cell/WIFI service.

In essence you cell block the section, and you tag each seat to an allowable WIFI connection.
Bingo! problem solved.

When you "buy" the ticket, you could select Cell/WIFI section or not... you can't complain later (just like you kiss your rights goodbuy when you board the plane).
That would allow airlines to configure the planes and see how much sectioning is required for long flights... (where WIFI/CELL would make sense to use).

OK... too much thinking... light's gone for good.

:)

aec007

I think vigilante justice should be allowed in such situations that someone uses VoIP. Shouldn't treat them any different than say the "Shoe Bomber". Tackle, tie up, and beat the snot out of him or her until the plane lands... then arrest.

digitalgimpus

There are loud people on EVERY flight I take. At least I only have to hear half of the conversation if they are talking on the phone. Quit your self-righteous sniveling, Buy yourself some Bose noise-canceling headphones...and STFU.

tchefunkte

Could I use YIM voice chat instead?

Crash Override 777

I feel special my dads an AA pilot that flies some of the planes that they're testing wifi on. The only complaint he has is that he can't get on for free (which is weird because they let him fly first class for free)

gamecrazychris

why cant ppl make voip calls? id rather hear that than some babies and little brats that wont shut up or stop crying that is worse. either way aslong as the headphones are free they shouldnt bother voip ppl.

urbanturban666

Hmmm, I should create an anti-noise device that "listens" to the noise in the plane and creates anti-noise to cancel it out. You would probably need to use it kind of like a bubble around you. I should give it a surround sound input while I'm at it so I can watch movies in surround sound on the plane.

Feel free to steal my idea and sell it to me, I'm kind of lazy and would probably never complete it.

Suijin

Quite frankly I think that a babies cry is a lot more annoying then someone chatting in a decent tone right next to you. Dont get me wrong, I love babbies but their cry is really annoying especially on a plain when you are trying to rest. Either way, my point is really that noise is allowed on the plane (or cant be stopped) so let people talk. I personally use earbud noise canceling headphones and let my music put me to sleep without anyone bothering me. Learn to do it yourselves and let everyone enjoy!!

compuboy

people have been flying without telephone communication for decades now and suddenly, some of you people think you're important enough to have to make a call midway through your 2 hours flight from college to see your mommy during winter break?

besides, if you're that important, you wouldnt be flying in the cattle car section of a low-budget carrier's aircraft. too many of you listened to your mothers when they called you special.

get real. your rights end where another's begin. and everyone deserves the right to fly in peace. you have the right to make your "oh so important, world changing phone calls" when you get off the plane.

oakiepokie

@phi: They care like the article says for the sanity of other passengers, would you like to sit on a 3 hour flight and have to hear the person next to you talking on the phone the whole time?

Lokiprimary