First Mobile Enabled Flight Touches Down In UK…Months Ago
Emirates have become the first airline to allow mobile phone use in the air, on a flight from Dubai to London Heathrow….on the 7th of April 2008. That’s quite a while ago, obviously there were some special exemptions for this flight!
Around 20% of passengers were said to have used their mobiles, making around 30 calls and 100 texts during the seven hour journey. Whilst the upcoming Ofcom ruling is expected to relax the rules regarding calls in the air, Emirates still enforce their own strict rules to ensure peace and quiet for fellow travellers…
Only 10% of their flights provide the service at all, and even then the service is only provided at a height of over 23,000 feet, on the condition that all phones remain on silent for the duration. With these in place, they have managed to keep complaints to a minimum and has been deemed a success by the organisers.
Not looking forward to this technology becoming available on the budget airlines next to the Pringles and ludicously expensive fragrances…
Source: Opodo