High-tech flight: Useful or annoying?

Sean Foote's iPhone is equipped with a number of advanced doodads, many of them totally useless to the Santa Rosa man when he boards an airplane.

That's changing.

Major U.S. airlines have begun unveiling WiFi service on flights, which means Foote, a graphic artist, can send and receive e-mail, surf the Net or download YouTube videos at 35,000 feet.

Pretty soon, people may be able to make calls in flight using their cell phones, or book airline travel with a personal digital assistant such as a Blackberry and simply scan the device at the gate for boarding.

It's all part of the evolving use of technology for airline travel, a trend some applaud and others worry could make the flying experience more annoying than it already is.

Consider for a moment allowing passengers to make cell phone calls en route, as opposed to before takeoff or after landing, which is now the case.

Foote at first seemed jazzed by the new possibilities, before pausing at the thought of ringtones going off all around him in what amounts to a cramped metal tube.

"It would be like 50 alarm clocks going off all at once," Foote said while waiting for the Santa Rosa Airporter, the first step on a delayed honeymoon to Australia with his wife, Melissa Wallin-Foote.

On second thought, he said, better to stick to e-mail and surfing than calling.

The European Union, however, recently voted to allow personal cell phone use on flights within Europe, a move that increases the pressure on airlines, including those in the United States, to follow suit.

In response, a group of U.S. congressmen has introduced legislation known as the Halting Airplane Noise to Give Us Peace, or HANG UP, Act that would permanently ban the use of cell phones on flights. The bill cites safety concerns and the annoyance factor as reasons for the law.

In one poll sponsored by the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA and the National Consumers League, 63 percent of respondents were against the use of cell phones on planes.

"It just strikes me as a bad idea to encourage large groups of people in close proximity to start talking on cell phones," said airline pilot Patrick Smith. "It's annoying enough when you're 10 feet away from someone in a restaurant."

But David Castelveter, a spokesman for the Air Transport Association of America, said it's "likely" that cell phones will one day be approved for use on planes, and that it will be up to individual carriers to decide whether or not to permit such use on their aircraft.

The Federal Aviation Administration would first have to agree to relax the rules. New systems also would have to be designed in order to make calls and send text messages from 35,000 feet.

But some people remain skeptics.

June Hazleton, a former teacher from Sebastopol, said she's concerned for her safety when she flies, "period," without the added worry of whether cell phones will prove hazardous to onboard equipment.

"Can't we just get through the next few hours without having to worry about that?" she said hypothetically while waiting for the airport bus.

She was more in favor of WiFi, however.

Smith called the advent of in-flight WiFi "one of the best service gestures by a U.S. airline in recent memory."

American's Gogo is the first of many WiFi offerings planned for the skies. Delta, Continental, Southwest, JetBlue, Alaska and Virgin America are planning to offer similar services in coming months, some through Aircell of Itasca, Ill.

The cost for American's service is $12.95 for flights over three hours. But imagine being able to send and check e-mail, browse the Internet and download video from high above the Earth.

"Part of the art of keeping people happy in their seats is distraction," Smith said.

It's for the same reason that some lament such advances, as increasingly it seems that customer service aboard airplanes is about getting people to tune out.

"One thing I wish is for airlines, in addition to enhancing the gadgetry, get back to remembering that service is a one person to one person thing," Smith said. "It's an American tendency to throw technology at a problem."

Castelveter, however, sees nothing but positives with the advent of newer technology, not just onboard planes but in the ticketing process and at security lines.

He said Continental Airlines is testing a new service in which ticketing can be done on a personal digital assistant such as a Blackberry. A bar code that appears on the device's screen is scanned at the gate.

The use of electronic check-in kiosks and passport scanners is increasing. New laptop bags designed to speed up security screening also are gaining in popularity.

"I don't think there's anything but positive news in the way the industry is embracing technology," Castelveter said. "It all contributes to the conveniences we want when we fly."

You can reach Staff Writer Derek J. Moore at 521-5336 or derek.moore@pressdemocrat.com.