Delta CEO: No Voice Calls on Our Flights

I&#x27;m not a big fan of people who are always on their phones but I don&#x27;t think disallowing them on planes really solves any actual real world problem. Those chatterboxes who need to be talking will just continue to annoy the stranger sitting next to them or chatterbox with their friend sitting next to them if they are travelling in a group. Either way I need to filter them out with headphones or whatever.<p>And while I have no interest in spending the majority of even a short flight talking on phones, it would sometimes be very convenient to be able to make a quick call to someone waiting at the airport 10 minutes before a flight lands or something like that. Throwing out that sort of convenience to get rid of a distraction like someone talking on their phone in an environment that is already inherently full of really loud sound distractions seems like a silly move to me.

When did all customers become &quot;users&quot;. Delta has passengers. Delta has customers. They do not have users.

Seems to me like most airlines stand to gain a lot of money by creating new sections that allow for talking within the planes, and ones that don&#x27;t. People would probably pay extra for the latter.

Close your eyes and picture the last time you saw a clueless chatterbox gabbing on a cell phone. What do you remember? The nails-on-chalkboard voice? The hideous oversharing? Think deeper. Think of the flapping hands and the upper body articulation. Think of how oblivious that chatterbox was to any social cues, subtle or overt, that the world at large might not wish to share quite so deeply in its private discourse. Now imagine you&#x27;re trapped 17&quot; away (average distance between passengers&#x27; centers of mass on an international flight) from that clueless gesticulating chatterbox for 8 hours. If you honestly think that&#x27;s no problem I won&#x27;t call you a hypocrite. For me, cell phone chats go right down with cigarettes and guns as things that are so awful that even trapped air passengers shouldn&#x27;t have to endure them.

Charge a not-inconsequential fee for in-air calls so that people only use it if it&#x27;s absolutely necessary. Perhaps make the charge go up exponentially with time so that calls remain brief.

This is a huge advantage when you&#x27;re trying to win business from curmudgeons like me.

My favorite instances of transit chatterboxes have occurred in Italy. Pedestrians and those on trains, on their phone and very &quot;vocal&quot; with their hand gestures. It made for amusing people watching.<p>Personally, I don&#x27;t care either way about voice calls on flights at this point. Aside from when my wife and I are traveling and trying to converse, I am usually fully checked out with my in ear monitors and music&#x2F;video, so I rarely hear much -- I have to remove the IEM to interact w&#x2F; airline staff for things like drinks, food, etc.

Flights should be like movie theaters when it comes to using your phone. Don&#x27;t spoil the ambiance for everyone with your chatter. A message is fine. But for voice, kindly step out.

If you are dying to talk on a plane (unless it&#x27;s an emergency), please use this to respect the comfort of other passengers.<p><a href="http://www.ostrichpillow.com/wp-content/themes/things/img/header/OSTRICH-PILLOW_Studio-Banana-THiNGS_kawamura-ganjavian_03.jpg" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.ostrichpillow.com&#x2F;wp-content&#x2F;themes&#x2F;things&#x2F;img&#x2F;he...</a>

Can you actually get a cell signal in an airplane? I guess you can or this wouldn&#x27;t be an issue. I&#x27;ve never been able too in the few moments before I turn airplane mode on.

This was an interesting and quaint sentiment in 1993. Now it&#x27;s an attitude shared by overbearing grandmas and hipsters alike.<p>The culture police need to move on. I don&#x27;t like loud conversations, but it&#x27;s a jet plane - not a damn library. (And at least my librarian does not infantilize me)