'Hello! Yes? I'm on the Plane!'
Air France flies its first cell phone friendly flight.
PARIS, Dec. 20, 2007 — -- Haven't there been times when you're stuck circling above the runway waiting for "clearance from air traffic control" that you've wanted to send a quick text to your ride home explaining you're running late?
Maybe you've been thousands of feet up over the mid-Atlantic and realized you've forgotten to pass on some very important information. If only you could just call from your cell phone …
If you're flying Air France these are no longer just wishes.
Together with OnAir, the airline is testing the world's first in-flight mobile phone service. While Qantas already offers mobile coverage to its domestic passengers in Australia, Air France is the first to extend the service to international flights.
This new service comes at a time when the logistics of flying are becoming ever more challenging — extra security measures, the increasing number of passengers and delays, delays, delays. It can be a real struggle for families, the elderly and even seasoned business travelers.
Passengers traveling on board one of the Air France's Airbus A318 aircraft fitted with this new service and operating European routes can now send and receive data (SMS, MMS and e-mails via all phones with Internet access). During the second half of the trial, in about three months, passengers will be able to make and receive phone calls.
The first flight offering this new service took place Monday between Paris and Warsaw, Poland, Air France announced.
Reactions seemed very positive among passengers. "I just gained another hour of work, being able to send e-mails from onboard the aircraft. We will no longer waste time traveling by air, with this new service," said one passenger. "It's perfect. I just sent my wife an e-mail to let her know I was arriving and she replied to it." Added another: "It works fine."
At the end of the six-month trial, Air France will examine feedback from customers to determine whether to launch this service on all its flights and whether to offer both data and voice or just data, depending on the level of noise discomfort experienced by the customers.
