Air NZ Allows Texts, E-Mails In Flight
By Wyatt Earp | May 29, 2010
Wait a minute, I thought we were supposed to turn off our electronic devices because it interferes with the plane! You guys are
Air New Zealand is planning to let some passengers send text messages and emails mid-flight by the end of the year but fellow travelers need not worry — phone calls will not be allowed.
New Zealand’s national carrier said it expects to let people send and receive text messages and emails on their iPhones, Blackberries and GSM mobiles on its new 777-300 aircrafts by November.
The new service will also enable customers to use their Netbooks or laptops in conjunction with their mobile broadband connection to access the Internet. The airline said the new mobile text and data service is being introduced after feedback from passengers who want to stay connected on long-haul flights but it is subject to regulatory approval.
Okay, I’m on board! Heh. At least until the first plane goes down from the interference.
Topics: Coolness! | 8 Comments »
May 29th, 2010 at 10:55 am
It’s not because of interference with the plane! Truth be told, all of you peons back in coach slow down the broadband connection of those of us in first class who are online gaming!
(I kid. I’m a kidder!)
May 29th, 2010 at 12:32 pm
It is actually an FCC rule not a FAA rule that you cannot use a cell phone. Because you are travelling so high up and from cell to cell so quickly, they could not track you for billing purposes. Now that most people have flat rate cell bills, I guess it is not as big of a deal. I would love to be able to send text messages while flying, but I sure as hell do not want to have 70 people all talking at the top of their lungs on their phones on board. If that happens they are going to need a lot more air marshals.
May 29th, 2010 at 9:41 pm
Proof – Damn you and your larger salary!
Ingineer66 – With tasers at the ready.
May 29th, 2010 at 10:06 pm
Well, I won’t be doing it on an Airbus… THEY do have issues with stray electronic signals…
May 29th, 2010 at 11:30 pm
Airbus’s seem to have issues with falling out of the sky, Old NFO. I thank God every time I land when I am on one of those and United keeps adding more of them now that they are retiring all of their 737s.
May 30th, 2010 at 2:20 pm
Old NFO – Good to know.
Ingineer66 – Falling out of the sky. That’s bad, right?
May 30th, 2010 at 3:56 pm
Yes Wyatt that is a bad thing unless you are a JDAM.
June 1st, 2010 at 7:39 pm
Actually – I blew the $10 necessary for an in-flight wifi hookup on my trip to ATL last month. And the dirty little secret of in-flight cell-use bans is who is behind them. The airlines don’t want you yammering on your phone, true (for keeping the cargo from overpressurizing and exploding in someone’s face); but the cell networks don’t take kindly to a device that is registered on all the cells you can see from 2 miles up and moving at just shy of the speed of sound.
The in-flight nodes take care of this by letting the blinkenboxen lock onto *it* and then they backhaul via the same system that let me read my friend’s inanities on Facebook