I had the pleasure of sitting behind someone on a D.C. to Manhattan Amtrak train recently who talked loudly on his BlackBerry for the entire three-hour journey. I learned all about the cigar bar he planned to patronize later that evening, that his assistant was leaving to go work for Pepsi, and that a tailor had recently ruined a favorite pair of pants.
Several members of Congress are looking to make sure this type of scenario does not become a common occurrence on airplanes. They introduced a bill on Tuesday that would ban passengers from talking on their cell phones during U.S. flights, whenever that technology might emerge. Text messaging and surfing the Web would be acceptable.
"Last year was one of the worst on record for flight cancellations, delays and lost luggage," bill co-sponsor Rep. Jerry Costello, R-Ill., said in a statement. "Now is not the time to consider making the airline passenger-experience any worse and using cell phones in-flight would do just that."
Amen, Jerry. I'm all for trading in airplane trivia and sub-par movie selections for some quality time on the Internet during my flight, but I definitely wouldn't want to be anywhere near my BlackBerry train friend on a six-hour flight across the country.
Whether or not this bill is actually going to get any traction, though, remains to be seen. The European Union, last week actually passed a bill that would allow for passengers to chat on their cell phones during commercial flights. Some wireless companies are saying that allowing cell phones on planes in Europe but not in the U.S. could provide international carriers with an unfair advantage.
Also, what about those old-school plane phones in the back of the seats? I imagine they'd be phased out, but would they also be banned?
CTIA, which represents the wireless industry, did not respond to a request for comment by press time.
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