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Flight Observations and Questions
During my flights to and from Portland this week, I managed
to drum up a list of random questions about plane travel. I hope some of our well-traveled readers can chime in with
comments regarding this list of burning questions:
1) Airfone: Have you ever seen someone actually use Airfone (or a similar service) to make a call? If you've used the phone or sat by someone who did, we want to hear your story — when, why and how much did it cost? I don't fly nearly as often as some of our Gadling readers, but I've never witnessed anyone calling from the in-flight phone, and I'm curious if they ever get used.
2) In-flight library: Have you ever requested a newspaper or magazine from the plane's in-flight library? Not sure why I was not aware of this service… Sometimes I rush to buy a magazine before boarding because I have nothing to read during the flight. But I didn't realize I could just ask for something from the plane's personal library. And I assume magazines must be returned at the end of the flight, but what about daily newspapers — do you get to keep them?
3) Sky Mall: The guy next to me should have asked for something from the in-flight library because I swear he read the Sky Mall magazine during the entire time I watched the Willy Wonka movie that was playing on board. Two hours is a long time to browse through any catalogue, and if someone is going to look at Sky Mall for that long, they ought to buy something I think. Which is another thing I'm wondering about. Who buys from Sky Mall? Fess up! We want to know who you are and what you're buying. Have you been happy with your purchases, or has the altitude caused you to make some bizarre purchases at 10,000 feet? [Related: take the sky mall pop quiz]
4) Noice-reduction headphones: One of the items I noticed while scanning the Sky Mall mag were these $300 Bose noise reduction headphones. The woman sitting in front of me was wearing them too, wonder if she bought them through Sky Mall? I'm guessing that a good portion of frequent flyers invest in this massive head gear, but is it worth the hefty price tag and weight to lug around?
I'll wrap up with a slightly related tip regarding headphones. If you want to watch the in-flight movie and don't have headphones of your own, be sure to print out your boarding pass online before heading to the airport — Continental offers a free coupon that waives the $5 headphone rental fee, but you have to print it out online. I'm assuming other airlines may have similar offerings. They are cheapy headphones of course (no noise reduction with these!), but that is all the more reason to make sure you don't pay for them.
Filed under: Arts and Culture, Business, Gear
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
luminouslens Dec 18th 2005 5:34PM
I will confess that I once bought something from the SkyMall catalogue! I was on my way to England and hadn't had time to buy an electrical converter. I discovered that they were ridiculously expensive at the airport (and surprisingly hard to find): $30 for a little piece that would only convert between US and UK. On the plane I saw a $30 piece that promised to allow me to convert electricity all over the world (something like 150 countries). I am aware it was still way overpriced, but I really didn't want to spend my small amount of travel time browsing through stores in England looking for a converter, so yes, I bought it on the plane. I think even the stewardess was embarrassed to have to charge me that much for it! Now I'm going to have to travel the world to make it worth the money...
Bill Reals Dec 18th 2005 5:34PM
Airfone.
Yup, I know a few people who've used an Airfone and I've sat across the asile as from a guy who was on one as well. One of my former co-workers inviited to a confernece call and they told him that he would have to dial in from the air. So, he sat and listened for hour or 90 mins on an Airfone during a flight and never had to speak. The cost was something over $100.
I sat across from another guy, who talked loudly, like a TV host, for about 30 mins on a flight. Once the plane landed, he picked up his phone and started talking again.
Finally, I sat next to a woman who answered her cell phone at 30,000 feet, just above Mt Adams, on my way to Seattle. She answered to tell the person that she couldn't talk to them as she was on a plane.
Jason Dec 18th 2005 5:34PM
Ok, let's run down the list:
1. I'll confess that I once used an Airfone...I was flying Chicago to Boston, got bumped to DC cause of snow, and was getting into Boston several hours behind schedule. I had forgotten my cell phone, and needed to call a friend that was picking me up...Needless to say, DiscoverCard in, 5 minute call, $35 out, and it was all set. However, I'm the only person that I've ever actually seen use one.
2. I always keep the daily paper.
3. No on the SkyMall, although I find myself paging through and laughing at the products on average 3 times per flight.
4. Don't own the headphones, but have used 'em...incredible. They'd be well-worth the $ for a long overseas flight.
catherine Dec 18th 2005 5:34PM
Well, #1, I once (before I even owned a cell phone) needed to make an important call as I was seated on an Alitalia flight to Rome several years ago.I knew it would cost a fortune but it would have been worth it...I say, would have been, because of course it didn't work , after many, many attempts.....no sense counting on the crew for help.....they disclaimed any knowledge of how it functioned!
catherine Dec 18th 2005 5:34PM
As for the library....again on Alitalia there are always lots of newspapers both in English and of course in Italian....you may ask for as many as you like and you do get to keep them. I read them all the time. And, yes, I've bought from the inflight magazine!! Again, on Alitalia.....the prices are the same as the infamous "duty free-prices high" shops.Once, I needed some gifts, which I had forgotten to buy while I was in Italy, so I bought one of those perfume samplers (which I actually kept for myself), one of those toy airplanes for a little child I knew and a watch for my son.Speaking of my son, he too has purchased inflight....once,at age 16, when he had to return to the US alone, he "treated" himself to a couple of bottles of "Ferrari" after shave and cologne! As far as the earphones go...I hate watching the inflight movie with a passion! I prefer bringing my ear plugs instead (once upon a time, Alitalia as I am sure many other airlines, would supply you with ear plugs,eye shield, slipper socks and a toothbrush kit!)Anyway,I like to plug my ears, cover my eyes, cover my nose and mouth with a surgical mask and try to sleep!
catherine Dec 18th 2005 5:34PM
Sorry, it's me again.....as you can see you've hit a sore spot .....I would never pay for those poor quality head phones to watch a movie that you can hardly see anyway...people passing, heads bobbing, kids screaming,etc,etc. Oh by the way, I too read the inflight magazine AND I many times bring it home with me....I'm speaking again about Alitalia that has a great mag with stories about different cities in Italy. No more comments, I promise.
Michael Dec 18th 2005 5:34PM
I've never purchased anything from the SkyMall catalog myself, but an old girlfriend did once. Of all things, she bought a fireplace! I thought she had to be joking when she came home and told me (quite excited to find it, by the way). How & why does one find a fireplace on an airplane, I thought. It just seemed so out of place.
As it turned out, it really wasn't quite as whacked as I initially thought. It was a free standing piece of furniture that burned cans of "gel" not unlike the sterno used on a buffet table hot plate. While the gel gave off a little more fumes than advertised, it was a reasonably nice looking piece of furniture (which is to say, it was actually made of wood with a decent finish on it).
Keith Bergstrom Dec 18th 2005 5:34PM
Being the son of an ex-flight attendent (yes, their called flight attendants, not stewardesses), I've been around for a number of in-flight phone calls. Almost invariably, they go something like this:
"Hi, Mary?"
"Hey! Guess where I am?"
"No"
"No"
"No"
"I'm like 20,000 feet above you.
"Uh huh..."
"uh huh..."
"-listen, I've got to go. This is costing me like 3 bucks a minute."
"bye"
--
As for the in flight library, I have on occasion asked for a magazine, but I'm really more of a book person.
--
As a cataloguer, I'm awestruck by the brilliance of the skymall catalogue. (1) Your average consumer catalogue gets a response from maybe 1 out of 100 people that you send it to. The rest toss it. So, with sky mall, you've got folks passing it off to the next person. (2) The number 1 reason people toss catalogues is they have no time at the moment to look through them. Well, what better place do people have time to leaf through a catalogue. (3) The people at skymall don't even need to worry about all that tough fulfilment stuff. All they need to do is take the order, and charge the cataloguer... really a fantastic idea.
And um... to answer your question, no, I've never ordered from one.
---
Never tried the noise reducers either. Though I've found that the $15-20 giant ones that cover your whole ears work pretty well for planes... though packing them sucks.
Kelly Dec 18th 2005 5:34PM
Great comments everyone, thanks for sharing your experiences. Buying a fireplace from Skymall takes the cake so far, that is funny. Turns out that the Comedy Central's Steven Colbert is a frequent shopper at Sky Mall too:
http://www.worldhum.com/weblog/item/stephen_colbert_on_skymall_20051205/
Thanks to World Hum for the news :)