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Chicago is the latest city to roll out so-called airport cell phone lots. These parking facilities allow you to park for *free* while waiting to pick someone up, as long as you stay in the car and leave within an hour. They’re “cell phone lots” because the traveler is presumably calling the driver to let them know they’ve arrived.

Houston, Seattle, Charlotte, Philadelphia, and San Diego are other U.S. cities with similar features at their airports. The lots are designed to reduce traffic and emissions from circling cars. Most also require you to turn off the car while in the lot. (Houston, which allows idling, is a notable exception on that count…)

A number of peoples’ worst fears are coming true: Cellphones will be legal on selected Air France flights. Using technology from OnAir, AirFrance will outfit a single Airbus 318, set for delivery in March 2007, with equipment allowing customers to use their phones in flight.

In essence OnAir’s technology emulates a mobile network inside an aircraft. The specially designed pico-cell system, for instance, allows mobile devices to operate at lower transmission power and thus eliminate interference with other radio systems, according to the company’s website. The system also ensures that phones on board can’t attempt to log on to terrestrial networks.
[…]
To determine demand, the French airlines will ask all passengers using the service to complete a questionnaire. Depending on their response, the company will decide how many additional aircraft will offer the service. Details about pricing were not available.

Plans for the OnAir system are on deck to be retrofitted on existing aircraft for British carrier BMI and Portugal’s TAP.

In the U.S., public opposition to cellphones in flight is fairly strong, but Europe looks like it may go the other way.

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tags: travel | air travel | inflight cellphones | Air France

USA Today’s Ben Mutzabaugh follows up the recent fracas over possible cellphone use in flight by contacting individual airlines and asking them what their policy on cellphones is.

The roundup:

AirTran: no to voice
Alaska: not sure yet
American: hedges, noncommittal
Continental: no comment
Delta: not sure yet
Frontier: hedges, noncommittal
JetBlue: yes to silent mode/texting, no to voice
Northwest: not sure yet
United: yes to wi-fi, no to voice
USAirways: not sure yet

Conspicuously absent from the list: Southwest. (The singing of “Wheels on the Bus Go Round and Round” will remain permitted, encouraged, and complimentary, though.)

Consider writing to your air carrier of choice with your views on the matter, too. So many of these companies say they’re “listening to their customers,” so they need to hear from you.

tags: travel | air travel | cellphones | inflight wireless

The Wall Street Journal (subscription required) rehashes the recent report that cellphones cause interference to aircraft navigation instruments. (previously discussed here and here)

The real nugget in the article, though, is this:

Do travelers really want to gab inflight? Of 8,000 comments to the FCC when it proposed dropping its ban, only two or three were in favor. The rest, except for the 50 or so technical reports, were from travelers vociferously opposed, arguing that airplanes should be a refuge from calls and emails. Flight attendant unions are also opposed, fearing obnoxious phone habits could lead to air-rage incidents.

That’s quite a supermajority opposed to cellphones inflight. Count me in, unless the loud talkers are relegated to a private area in the back of the plane.

The opposition to e-mail doesn’t make as much sense to me — if planes are equipped with internet access, passengers will have the choice to read/write e-mail, or not. It’s not really any different than typing a manuscript on your laptop, and is hardly intrusive on your neighbors. Phone conversations are a different matter entirely.

tags: travel | air travel | inflight cellphones

Inflight cellphone use, though prohibited, happens:

Researchers monitoring flights in the Northeast found that several cellphone calls are typically made on commercial flights during takeoff or final approach, two critical flight stages when accidents could occur.

The fact that people occasionally cheat, violating FAA and FCC rules, is not a surprise. How often have you seen a flight attendant remind a passenger to turn off their phone or other electronic device?

I have always gone along with the directive, shutting everything down, even though I thought it was probably overblown. The cynic in me assumed that this was a way for the airlines to get you to use the Verizon Airfone in the seatback (or the inflight wi-fi). After all, how could a laptop or PDA bring down a Boeing? And if the electronics are THAT sensitive, wouldn’t there be risk for the duration of the flight, and not just during the climb and descent? But this bit in the article gives pause:

Granger Morgan, head of Carnegie Mellon’s Department of Engineering and Public Policy Department, said the activity recorded shows that the use of electronic devices should be limited on airplanes. Morgan said the disruptions are enough to impact a plane’s navigation or other systems.

Yikes! But how disruptive, exactly? I guess we’ll have to wait for the latest issue of IEEE Spectrum to hit the newsstands.

Update: IEEE Spectrum’s article is available here. Notable highlights:

Our data and the NASA studies suggest to us that there is a clear and present danger: cellphones can render GPS instrument useless for landings.
[…]
In one telling incident, a flight crew stated that a 30-degree navigation error was immediately corrected after a passenger turned off a DVD player and that the error reoccurred when the curious crew asked the passenger to switch the player on again. Game electronics and laptops were the culprits in other reports in which the crew verified in the same way that a particular PED caused erratic navigation indications.

Yikes!!

tags: travel | air travel | cellphones

On MSNBC.com, Adam Hunter sounds the alarm again that cellphone use may soon be permitted in flight within the United States. It’s still up to two separate federal agencies — the FAA and the FCC — to come to agreement before cellphone users can burn through their minutes.

Phones have been on board for years, most commonly the Verizon Airfones that are installed in the backs of seats. The cost of making a call has been a deterrent, even when subscribers to a company cellphone plan get a discount.

I certainly sympathize with Hunter’s fear that we’ll soon be hearing more annoying chatter in the cabin. The poll associated with his article, while unscientific, shows that most people agree that cellphones are unwelcome inside aluminum tubes that hurtle through the air at over 500 mph.

But even if normal land-based cellphones are not approved (which I bet WILL happen), wi-fi in flight IS increasingly a reality. Several international carriers have installed Connexion by Boeing on their planes, which allows passengers to purchase high-speed wireless internet access for the duration of their flight. The planes are equipped with a wireless hub and a satellite connection.

Already today, a passenger flying, say, Asiana Airlines from Seoul to Seattle could buy a day pass for “Asiana Airnet,” then plug in a headset, fire up Skype or Net2Phone or any other VoIP service, and start making calls. Perfectly legally.

The next logical step is wi-fi enabled phones on board. In fact, they’re already being tested.

Granted, these are both currently more cumbersome than just dialing your existing cellphone, but the technology is here. Cellphones may be prohibited, but VoIP in the sky is coming.

tags: travel | air travel | connexion | VoIP | cellphones