Good news for the anti-mobiles-on-planes lobby (ie, all of us). Passengers taking part in Air France’s in-flight mobile-phone trials are reported to be less than impressed with the quality of the service.

On April 1, Air France became the first carrier to allow travellers to use their mobile phones in midair, but the integration of cellular technology with aircraft avionics has not been seamless. Because calls are routed via a satellite before being beamed to a ground station, those using the £2.40-per-minute service experience delays and overlaps in conversations - if they can get connected.

Most passengers say they had to make several attempts to dial out - “It’s like calling from an underground car park,” one said - and nobody can yet receive incoming calls or e-mails. While the poor signal quality saves cabins from the chirruping of ringtones, the downside is that passengers on outgoing calls have to shout to make themselves heard. “It sounds as if I’m talking to a small robot,” one customer said.

On Air, which developed the technology, has promised that the kinks will be ironed out, but in one of its better decisions, British Airways says it has no plans yet to introduce the service. Ryanair has no such qualms: the service will be trialled on 20 aircraft later this year before being expanded to the entire fleet.

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BACKGROUND

• Inflight mobile phone trials slammed

• Ofcom grants approval for in-flight mobiles

• Young business travellers want on-board wireless

• Mobile loudmouths look to the skies

• USA says no to midair phonecalls

Related Links

• British airlines to pioneer mobile calls

“Mobiles have become such an extension of people’s lives that it is only natural to bring them into air travel,” the low-cost carrier said. “We are not concerned about the noise because our cabins have never been quiet places. People are constantly coming up and down the aisles, selling scratch cards or food, and we believe there is a market for this.”

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