Guy Using iPhone on Plane Detained in Hawaii
11:28 pm, October 15th, 2007, Pete Mortensen
You know how Apple thoughtfully included a cell signal, WiFi and Bluetooth-free Airplane Mode on the iPhone so that the wunder-device could be using as a media player in flight?
Well, apparently ATA didn’t get the memo. A passenger named Casey bound for Hawaii was repeatedly harassed by multiple flight attendants for “talking on his cell phone.” (He was actually trying to watch the terrible Jennifer Love Hewitt vehicle “I Know What You Did Last Summer.”) Consumerist has the sordid story:
So I ask what rule I am breaking. He tells me I am talking on my cell phone. I again explain I am not using the cell part and it is disabled. I go on to further explain that I have been on other airlines that have specific written rules that say cell phones in airplane mode are OK above 10,00 feet, so how could it be a FAA rule. And if it is, what rule ? He has no answer for that, but to now yells at me “You have to do anything I say, I am going to have you arrested”….
He ended up detained at the airport for awhile. It’s ridiculous. And, worse, it’s quite likely that the kind of people who would assume an iPhone in Airplane Mode is dangerous would confuse an iPod Touch with an iPhone. It’s a lesson to us all: Keep it out of sight, folks.
Image via Russell Shaw.
Posted by Pete Mortensen in iPhone | Comment on this article
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Good lesson, but i didn’t bought it to hide it. I think that in this case, the ignorant is not me or Casey…
Vd, on October 16th, 2007 at 1:37 am
Indeed. It’s not like I can watch movies on it while I have it kept out of sight.
Michael Jennings, on October 16th, 2007 at 2:04 am
ATA just sucks so bad, this seems in keeping with their we’re right and you are wrong model of customer service. I will do my best to avoid ATA in the future, low cost is not everything.
Andrew, on October 16th, 2007 at 6:20 am
THAT’S the lesson? That we should just roll over whenever some flight attendant with delusions of grandeur tries to impose their ignorance on us? Are you on crack, Pete?
This should be a lesson to the _airline_, not the _passenger_. The passenger did nothing wrong. The airline was grossly out of line.
To suggest that we should all give up the right to use our iPhones/iPods on airplanes is not the solution – it’s condoning the flight attendant’s unacceptable behavior.
Shame on you, Pete.
John Whorfin, on October 16th, 2007 at 1:02 pm
John, you’re that’s not what I meant to imply. The airlines obviously need to learn lessons. But I’d also like my readers to avoid getting whacked on a plane. All I’m saying.
Petemortensen, on October 16th, 2007 at 1:47 pm
A few years ago I was asked to turn off my Bose Noise Reducing headphones because “they are electronic and will interfere with the plane”. Dumbfounded I tried to explain that there was no transmitter in these headphones… as the flight attendants eyes glazed over I knew it was a wasted effort. The flight was a puddle jumper prop plane and noisy as they come!
My point is, most flight attendants just don’t know what the rule means. They think they are doing good, even if we think they an whacked.
Ian, on October 16th, 2007 at 6:28 pm
Flight attendants are robotic drones who’s only function is to follow orders, enforce policies, and perform crowd control with a benign face; trying to reason with them will get you stuffed in a holding cell. The place to take action is when you’re off the plane: write, call, badger the FAA, the TSA, and the airlines’ CEOs. Don’t be sheep, people!
Pober Saltine, on October 17th, 2007 at 10:07 am
It would seem prudent to be polite and do as asked. Make a fuss after the flight if you must, but no need to cause a disruption just because you can’t watch the latest episode of The Office.
Patrick Luckow, on October 17th, 2007 at 7:29 pm
Just goes to show you that it is ignorance that will destroy America’s civil liberties, not the iphone.
House of MisterE, on October 21st, 2007 at 5:18 am
remember, when “portable computers with CD players” were still forbidden on planes? And soon we will see that mobile phones are allowed – as soon as the airlines figure on how to profit from their usage, that is.
The story told is the very reason why I like to go on trains that much (I have to confess, it is so much easier here in Europe)…
Thomas, on October 28th, 2007 at 3:22 pm