<p>On long haul flights there is usually a socially enforced period of quiet where the lights are turned down and people try to get some sleep. I really hope that people respect this time instead of yakking away on the phone. For some reason, when people speak on cellphones, their voices become louder and more annoying than in regular face-to-face conversation. Personally I feel there is an element of exhibitionism to public phone conversations. Just text or email quietly, for goodness’ sake.</p>
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<p>I think D2 has used it, but only for her laptop, not making phone calls. I don’t so much mind people using their cell phones for internet/texting use. I just don’t want them making phone calls.</p>
<p>Alaska has been providing this Gogo service for several years. It is a hit or miss; sometimes, the speed of the connection is worse than a dial up!</p>
<p>Razor, I have used the wifi option on my last four Southwest flights. Terrific! I was able to clean out my email, play some games, and read CC :). Well worth the $8 for my long day of travel.</p>
<p>The wifi is a godsend for me when I have to travel during essay season. I’d much rather get the work done on the plane than stay up late reading essays in the hotel (after tramping around college campuses all day).</p>
<p>Hahaha mathmom, my sister sent me a link to that nap head thing the other day. I told her I would gladly look like a praying mantis if I could get some sleep on a plane.</p>
<p>razor, I use gogo all the time (especially when my company pays for it). It is a lifesaver on long/boring flights.</p>
<p>I too have the pet peeve of not appreciating encroachment into my personal space. If people are going to need more than the seat/armrest everyone’s fare entitles them to, they should pay for it. Sorry to sound harsh. I fly a lot and it is frustrating.</p>
<p>“But I seem to remember that cell phones WERE allowed pre-9/11, and many planes had those phones in the back of the seat in front of you. How is this different? There aren’t many times I’d need to make an in-flight call, but boy, there are times I needed to.”</p>
<p>Because the seat back phones are so absurdly expensive that you are only on them for a quick, truly important conversations.</p>
<p>I used one of those backseat phones in 1998 because I had no choice. I think the cost amounted to $25 per hour. That was a lot of money back then but I had to make the call.</p>
<p>I don’t mind encroachers so much as long as they’re nice. In that case, they can have all the space they want. If they’re jerks, forget it!</p>
<p>I HATE farters, but I also have a problem with the three S’s. Sniffers, shufflers, and smackers. People who constantly sniff (c’mon, just blow your freaking nose), shuffle cards (have to shuffle exactly ten times, loudly, while everyone around is sleeping), and smack their gum loudly with an explosive crack! Ahh! Drives me nuts, where are my headphones.</p>
<p>I asked for noise cancelling headphones for Christmas… I am finding more and more reasons to persuade someone in my family to get them for me lol 
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<p>I could see using wifi for long-distance flights (like… overseas) and <em>maybe</em> for some business travelers. Wifi wouldn’t bother me nearly as much as talking though. People talk enough and have no concept of the level of their voice >.< </p>
<p>As someone who needs to take up more than their “fair share”, I am totally on board with us needing aisle seats (my legs will NOT fit behind seats… they have to go out in the aisle… I hate it). I have passed up flights before because I couldn’t get an aisle seat (the more legroom seats are always gone by the time I purchase a ticket lol). Sorry, I can’t afford first class.</p>
<p>My guess is most folks will opt to text (and hopefully have phone set to vibrate, not ring). At landing, texting seems more common than talking.</p>
<p>If you fly with Delta, romani, make sure you get the economy comfort seats. They have, I think, about 3-4 inches of extra leg room. It really helps, they are sometimes better than the exit row.</p>
<p>Thanks for the tip, bd :). I don’t fly often but I’ll definitely keep that in mind!</p>
<p>I think it will be too loud for most people to really talk/want to talk anyway, or for me to hear them. I am not worried about it. It would be nice to be able to text. </p>
<p>I just wish airplane seats didn’t recline. I can deal with every other flying pet peeve ever but EVERY time I get on a plane I end up with somebody’s head literally in my lap the entire flight. The last few flights we’ve taken my fiance and I have had to share his folding tray for our beverages because I couldn’t even fold mine down. I couldn’t get to my bag under the seat in front of me the entire flight. The last flight, a man had an entire row of seats to himself and he reclined all of them for the entire flight and switched between the seats periodically. I wanted to scream.</p>
<p>Did you ask the man to put his seat up?</p>
<p>I’d have taken the aisle seat when he went to the window one.</p>
<p>Re “quiet” rows – remember the smoking sections of old? The smoke didn’t stay in its designated area, and neither would the noise of loud cell phone talkers. And it especially sucked to be in the last few rows of the so-called nonsmoking section. </p>
<p>Rail commuter lines offer an instructive history of cell-phone jabberers and mass transit:</p>
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<p>And passengers could escape to another car if they were desperate enough. Not so on a plane.</p>
<p>[Cell</a> Phones on Airplanes? There Will Be Blood](<a href=“Bloomberg - Are you a robot?”>Bloomberg - Are you a robot?)</p>
<p>It would be great to be able to text, email, and surf at 30,000 feet. Just, please, not talking.</p>
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The all-too-common practice of “fart blanche” really stinks! (Pun intended.)</p>
<p>Maybe we’ll all pick up good intel by listening in:
[Michael</a> Hayden, Tom Matzzie, and the Acela: Why Amtrak is such a great place to spy.](<a href=“http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/data_mine_1/2013/10/michael_hayden_tom_matzzie_and_the_acela_why_amtrak_is_such_a_great_place.html]Michael”>Michael Hayden, Tom Matzzie, and the Acela: Why Amtrak is such a great place to spy.)</p>
<p>In one of the more embarrassing hilarious moments of my married life, my hubby loudly announced on the flight - would the person who keeps farting near me please stop, it’s disgusting and unpleasant for the rest of us - lol</p>