Click on a label to read posts from that part of the world.

In-Flight Cellphone Calls To Be Allowed On Virgin Atlantic Flights

by Meg Nesterov (RSS feed) on May 14th 2012 at 2:30PM

inflight cell phone service to be offered on Virgin Atlantic

Passengers on Virgin Atlantic will soon be able to make in-flight cellphone calls, send texts and browse the web on their way home from Europe, it was just announced. The new service is part of the airline's upgrade to the Airbus A330, which will also provide expanded in-flight entertainment, USB ports and a very spiffy upper class. Cellphone service will initially be available only on London to New York flights, but will be expanded to more cities by the year's end. There are a lot of caveats, however: you'll need to be on a Vodafone or O2 network, only 10 calls will be allowed at one time and service won't be cheap. Calls will cost 1 GBP per minute and texts 20p each. You'll also still need to turn off your devices for takeoff and landing, and turn them off within 250 miles of US airspace, so no flight-long games of Words With Friends.

Gadling readers: would you use this service? Do you think it's any improvement over the old-school in-flight phones? Or will it just be another amazing innovation that no one appreciates?

[Photo courtesy Flickr user Highways Agency]

Filed under: Gear, Europe, North America, United Kingdom, United States, Airlines, News

Reader Comments (Page 3 of 3)

Defensemn1 May 14th 2012 10:20PM

Terrible idea!! Can you imagine sitting captive for hours next to someone talking in a raised voice as most people speak on a cell phone. I see fisticuffs breaking out in-flight. I relish the quiet on flights. That is the only saving grace for air travel.

Tom May 19th 2012 8:50PM

I cringe every time I hear someone shouting on their cell phone in public. The thing that gets me most is when guys are in the bathroom peeing or pooing and talking on the phone....I want to go up behind them and shout....DO YOU KNOW WHAT HE'S DOING RIGHT NOW????? I flush the commodes as much as I possibly can to these rude *ssholes....you can't even take a p*ss in peace!

mamallam May 15th 2012 12:37AM

Are you kidding...and how is anyone going to sleep with cell phones ringing, loud babble and rude people. Have you ever watched... and were forced to hear...these same people jump to use their phones the second the wheels of the plane touch down now???? It's all babble, nothing important and ALL so loud the entire cabin can hear them. They can't even wait til they get to the gate to dribble on.
Just spent 14 1/2 hrs. transpacific...if they were using cellphones on this one, I think I would have asked to bail out. AA took a survey about cellphone use in planes, overwhelming negative.

Deann Biblop May 15th 2012 1:59AM

Why not read a book, do a crossword or word search, play cards, or use the plane's headphones? Expanding your horizons is the reason to travel in the first place.
http://www.zimbio.com/Anti-aging/articles/9SbpGXmJmyi/RevitaDerm+Anti+Aging+Moisturizer+Review+RevitaDerm

JJP May 15th 2012 2:56AM

Plane travel is so irritating to begin with. You're cramped into seats and can't stretch your legs. The guy next to you is usually eating some garlicky sandwich he bought at the airport. Then someone else is clicking away on his computer. Now we have to listen to some banal bore blab all the way from one continent to another. Boycott this airline before road rage becomes air rage.

Loomis May 15th 2012 3:17AM

This is a terrible idea. I am flying to London in October and will definitely go British Airways now. If this does go through, then Virgin should segregate the cell phone users to their own private part of the aircraft and charge accordingly and leave the rest of us in peace. Richard Branson,where is your head?

tony May 15th 2012 7:51AM

oh great just another reason to NOT fly VA. how are they going to teach passengers basic courtesy rules while trying to use their phones, for example, i dont want to live in the middle of the life of the idiot next to me.
the entire population knows it hasnt been a danger to flight navigation systems for yrs we all just went along with it because it kept morons from ruining the flight for everyone else!

Gail Perry May 15th 2012 8:09AM

I think we're being foolish, blocking people from making cell phone calls on planes. It was passengers using their cell phones who found out what was happening on 9/11 and kept the fourth plane from hitting its target.

Bianca Mittag May 15th 2012 9:48AM

How awful. Imagine sitting next to a chatty person for 7 hours. Yuk. I will avoid Virgin Air.

macbil May 15th 2012 10:03AM

Our last bastion of some peace gone..all for more green stuff for the airline! I feel sorry for the cabin attendants, as there WILL be some very loud altercations, as some people apparently feel they are using soup cans and strings, and have to yell into their device. Let's go back to pagers!!

Gina May 15th 2012 12:08PM

Remind me not to fly this airline. For goodness sake...we're inundated with rude cell phone talkers everywhere we go. An airplane is a very contained area...there is no escape from big mouths...and I can see all kinds or irritated people getting more irritated. I could care care less about Joe Schmoe's business deal, or Big Mouth Betty's new boyfriend, or teenager's drunken evening. Come on...give us a little break from all of that when we travel. We hear enough of all this at the airports! On the plane it should be 'time out'!