To be perfectly honest, as much as I hate regulation and the like...I do not want to hear some self important douche bags phone call on my next 5 hour, cross country flight.

Yeah, the guy was right in using VoIP in flight, but the cops were right in saying next time just do what the flight attendants say, turn it off, and then afterwards take it up with the airline management. That avoids having THE GODDAMN COPS CALLED ON YOUR ASS.

I want to hear what Toby Zeigler has to say.

buzzcut73: /I know, your call is -really- important though, and the rest of us need to hear it.

What amazes me is that there are so many people out there who really don't understand this concept.

Some of my favorite examples are:

1) Sitting in a large waiting room at a family medical practice, having to listen to someone all the way over on the other side of the waiting room talking on his cell phone about whatever disease/disorder he was in there for. Everyone in this place had to hear every little detail of this guy's medical issues as he was loudly talking with a friend on the phone.

2) Sitting in a restaurant, trying to enjoy a pleasant meal. Someone's obnoxious ring tone starts up, and keeps going, because the phone's owner looks down at their phone and decides not to answer it. Instead of rejecting the call, they just let it play until it reverts to voice mail. About a minute later, the same ringtone starts up again, and the phone's owner does the same thing again. Everyone in the dining room is having to listen to this.

3) Again at a restaurant. A woman is seated, orders her meal, and then gets on the phone and loudly tells the person on the other end that she's at the restaurant and that she's just ordered, so now she's got plenty of time to talk on the phone.

4) Staying at a hotel. Things are quiet until you hear someone yelling out in the hallway. You open the door, and there's someone out there having a heated conversation on their cell phone. They look at you. You look at them. And then they say something like, "I wasn't getting good reception in my room," or "I didn't want to disturb the other people in my room," or "Do you mind?"

I was at a shopping center the other day, and there was a guy standing just outside of a store yakking on his phone so loud that I could clearly make out his words from the middle of the parking lot.

I've learned over time that the best thing to do with these people is stare at them when they're talking loudly on the phone. Give them your undivided attention, because apparently that's what they want anyway.

Oh... and for you assholes who would say "Just ignore it," my answer to you is, "Either lower your voice, get off the damned phone, or leave the room/area... and have a little consideration for other people."

You know, once you can do anything you want to on flight you will be expected to work there too. Just like when your bosses emails you at 9:00 PM, 5:30 AM, during dinner, on weekends....

When did we all get so damn irritable toward each other? There have been loud conversations, loud kids, and even louder engines on airplanes going back almost 100 years now. Remember the 727? Three of the loudest engines ever right at the back of the plane - somebody could have smacked you in the ear with their kid holding a cellphone and you wouldn't have heard it.

Some of you sound like you need medication.

redmid17: You're missing the point, he's not talking about phones in general, just VoIP service. In this particular case I agree with the flight attendants. In fact, I believe anyone that wants to talk on the phone mid-flight should be sent straight to jail. Obnoxious.

So when you talk to your friend sitting next to you, you're in favor of sending yourself to jail?

For reasons I cannot explain when people are on the phone they talk twice as loud as they would to the person next to them. Moreover, only being able to hear half a conversation (whether you are listening to it or not) is much more distracting. Citation

So your comparison fails

Nana's Vibrator: If people are going to be rude about everything, including electronic devices, then why have I been so reluctant to bring children onto a plane? They want to go to Disney. They might need to scream and kick chairs through the entire 3 hour flight, but if everyone else can be rude, why can't I?

You have it backwards. We are assholes because we have to put up with you and your kids on planes.

buzzcut73: IIRC, most VoIP providers are blocked from in-flight WiFi because nobody wants to share a space with a hundred other self-important douchebags that think they have to be talking to somebody or reachable by phone every minute of every day. You know, the same people that keep their phone turned on in the movie theater, in restaurants, wherever they happen to be.

Except what about the planes that have a telephone on the back of every row next to the TV?

Seems like what they really don't want is people not using the $12 per minute airphone.

The problem is, how is Joe Flight Attendant supposed to know that you're making a VoIP call vs a traditional cell call.

/I really hate the people who go wandering around the grocery store with their phone on speaker carrying on a conversation.

babysealclubber: Between this and Delta pulling ads after the Catholic League got all butthurt at the Daily Show (even though they claim that's not why they did it), I don't think I'll be flying Delta again if I can help it.

Actually, Delta admitted it.

I sincerely hope we can have an honest discussion on electronic devices in aircraft soon, because come ON.