Phone not in flight mode – that can be expensive
If you fly, you will be asked to turn off your smartphone or activate flight mode. But what happens if you don’t comply? Is there a risk of falling? We explain what consequences this can have.
Passengers should always switch their smartphone to flight mode before departure and only switch it off after exiting the aircraft
Quelle: Getty Images/Kittikorn Nimitpara
“Please buckle up, place the seat in an upright position, and turn off your electronics or put on airplane mode.” The phrase is as much a part of flying as tomato juice and jostling in the aisle. It sounds from the onboard speakers as the plane taxis to the runway. According to Lufthansa, this is a “safety precaution”. But what happens if you ignore the request? Is there a risk that the plane will crash?
The good news is: that’s not the case. Serious consequences are not to be expected on a modern aircraft if someone forgets to deactivate their mobile phone. The regulation dates from the time when mobile phones were still huge and aircraft control systems were not yet protected against their radiation. At that time, it was feared that mobile phone radiation could cause interference.
So why does the rule still exist? One reason is that, in special cases, there may be background noise in the pilot’s headphones. In an emergency, this crackling could make it impossible to hear important radio messages and thus endanger the passengers. Such an incident occurred in the 2000s on board a United Airlines plane that almost taxied onto the runway at the same time as another plane. It is still regularly cited as a reason for the ban on electronic devices on board.
However, such interference is extremely unlikely and does not really affect the modern electronics on board. However, they can be uncomfortable for the pilots. Theoretically, they can be caused by mobile phones in the first three or four rows of seats – i.e. in the immediate vicinity of the cockpit and at such low altitudes that a mobile phone connection is still available.
Making calls on the flight earns the airline money
A deeper reason for the cell phone ban on board is apparently that other passengers want to spend the time during the flight undisturbed. And the constant ringing of a telephone and the ensuing chatter of the called party can be quite disruptive.
For the airlines, the ban on phoning on board is also the basis for additional business. If you can’t do without important conversations between takeoff and landing, you should use the on-board telephony of the airlines, which charge a princely price for this service.
In addition to being polite to the crew and other passengers, this is a second reason to comply with the ban on mobile phones on board. Because it will almost certainly be an expensive surprise when the cell phone goes online on the plane.
Because then it probably connected to the plane’s in-flight phone system or – even more expensive – via satellite roaming. The result is likely to be a hefty bill – similar to the costs for mobile phone connections on ships or outside the EU roaming.
The passenger does not have to have made a phone call at all. If data roaming is activated, the cell phone automatically allows mobile data traffic as well – and then you get billed for the unnoticed downloads, program updates and background updates.
So it makes perfect sense to always switch the mobile phone to flight mode before departure and only switch it off again after leaving the plane. If you absolutely want or have to stay online during the flight, it is better to book one of the flat-rate internet packages offered by the airlines than to accept the – much more expensive – ad hoc billing.
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Source: WELT/Steffen Schwarzkopf