Shortly before Christmas, I visited Australia for the first time. It’s quite some journey but I was fortunate enough to fly business class with Cathay Pacific – and very plush it was, too. On the first leg to Hong Kong (a mere 12 hours or so), I was just settling into my pod (they don’t call them seats) and was about to nod off when there was something of an altercation across the aisle.
‘I understood that wi-fi would be available for the entire journey,’ said a grumpy middle-aged man, who looked like he was from the Middle East. He might well have owned much of the Middle East for all I knew. ‘We’re sorry, sir,’ said the air hostess. ‘It should be up and running shortly. One of the crew is looking into it.’
He was not a happy camper, whereas I was delighted to hear there would be no internet for at least some of the journey. It’s similar to the relief in discovering you’ve run out of gin on a night when you’ve promised to forgo alcohol at all costs. The temptation is removed.
But never mind simply logging on to the internet while 40,000 ft up in the air. Mr Grumpy will no doubt be delighted to hear that British Airways and its sister airline Aer Lingus will become the first major carriers to allow voice and video calls on board. Using Elon Musk’s Starlink wi-fi network, BA will roll out this service over the next two years. ‘If you need to take a call during the flight, we’d appreciate it if you could keep your voice low and use headphones,’ says the once-upon-a-time ‘world’s favourite airline’ in a readout. Good luck with that.
The ‘golden age’ of flying in the 1950s – with its spacious legroom, lobster platters and plumes of cigarette smoke – may be long gone. But at least flying’s still a largely civilised affair, cut off from the demands and noise of daily life. On the whole, passengers behave well: reading, watching TV (with headphones) and generally keeping to themselves. For many, it’s a chance to be disconnected for a few hours, an opportunity to lose oneself in thought.
Not any more. We’ve all been squeezed into cafes next to some inconsiderate type yabbering loudly into their phone or been stuck on public transport next to a ‘bare-beater’: someone who plays music without any headphones. As it stands, most airlines have strict rules about live communication. It’s simply not allowed on flights with the likes of United Airlines, Qantas and Cathay Pacific. But, sadly, the dam is bound to burst – and one of the last safe havens from intrusive, one-sided conversations will be lost.
Just imagine: tucking into your aeroplane meal while FaceTime calls, WhatsApp videos, Teams meetings, Instagram reels and TikTok clips blare through the cabin around you. It’ll be worse than a long trip on the Northern line or a cramped, busy office cubicle. At least you can escape those situations. Not if you’re trapped on a plane.
Just imagine: tucking into your aeroplane meal while FaceTime calls, WhatsApp videos, Teams meetings, Instagram reels and TikTok clips blare through the cabin around you
What will that mean in practice, I wonder. Will booking a seat become even more complicated and (lord forbid) even more expensive than it is now? Will airlines have to designate certain areas ‘quiet zones’ as is the case on trains? Imagine if those are all sold out and you’re sitting next to some belligerent alpha male who barks orders to his PA for half the flight and to his lawyer for the other.
We all know that attention spans are shortening – and our phone addictions are to blame. Research from the University of California found that an individual’s average attention span while using a digital device was approximately 150 seconds long in 2004. By 2012, that number had halved to 75 seconds and by 2024 it was down to 47 seconds. No wonder that research this week found even a short ‘digital detox’ can effectively erase ten years of age-related cognitive decline. Allowing voice and video calls on planes will only make matters worse.
What’s more, it will widen the gulf between those who are digitally literate and anyone who chooses not to be. After spending 17 years as a travel editor, I still get emails from readers anxious to air their gripes. Recently, I received one from a woman in Essex who was complaining about Ryanair’s policy of not allowing passengers to board a plane unless they have a pass on their phones. ‘This totally discriminates against the elderly, disabled, visually impaired, technophobes and those like me who do not use an iPhone or Android device,’ she wrote.
The solution in that case might be simply to avoid Ryanair – but it seems this sort of technical tyranny is spreading. If smoking is banned on airplanes, why can’t phone calls remain banned too?
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