Air France is testing an in-flight system allowing passengers to use their cell-phones in flight. The initial phase is limited to text messages and data transfer, but in three months phase two will make phone calls possible.

Technically speaking the system is based on a relay located in the cabin. Because of its proximity this special relay can operate at very low power, avoiding any risk of interference. For more information about cell-phones on board, read my previous post in this topic.

As an engineer I like this system because it solves a problem and create new opportunities. However, as a passenger, I strongly DISLIKE this system, for a single reason, perfectly illustrated by french writer Jean-Paul Sartre : “L’Enfer c’est les autres”…In english: “Hell is other people”. Many passengers misbehave, invade the very small personal space available on board. This can be by widely opening newspaper, spreading papers everywhere, elbowing me, shouldering me, and many other ways.

To be fair, I certainly involuntarily invaded the personal space of some travellers sitting beside me, so I don’t really blame them, but the airlines for giving us so little room.

Allowing passengers to place phone calls on-board means that some will do, and a few will abuse of this new possibility. I can imagine the passenger beside me spending all the flight time on the phone, and being forced to listen all of the conversation, simply because there is no other possibility.

Even worse. I can imagine myself trapped between two passengers, each of them chatting loudly on their phones, possibly in different languages. If Mr. Sartre knew cell-phones he would have said “Hell is other people cell phones” !

Phones on board ? Thank you, but no, thank you !