British Airways is about to do something most airlines have long avoided: allow passengers to make voice and video calls onboard. Predictably, the reaction has been swift and overwhelmingly negative. But my reaction is different.
British Airways Will Allow Inflight Calls…And That’s Not Necessarily A Bad Thing
With the rollout of Starlink Wi-Fi, British Airways is joining a very small club of airlines willing to tolerate inflight voice and video calls. While most carriers still ban them outright, BA is taking a different approach: calls are allowed, but passengers are asked to “be considerate,” keep their voices low, and use headphones.
For years, airlines have restricted calls not because they could not support them, but because they feared exactly what many are now warning about: a cabin filled with loud, one-sided conversations. And yet, I am not convinced this is the disaster many are predicting.
This debate is not new. Nearly a decade ago, I pushed back on the idea that inflight calls would destroy the passenger experience. In a 2016 post, I argued that the issue was not the act of calling itself, but how people behave.
I remember going back and forth with Henry Harteveldt on this very point on NPR. The assumption was that passengers would be unable to regulate themselves. Maybe that is true in some cases, but it is hardly unique to phone calls. We already tolerate plenty of noise onboard.
The Real Problem Isn’t Calls
Let’s be honest about what actually bothers people. It is not someone quietly speaking into a phone. That is functionally no different than talking to a seatmate.
The real problems are:
- Speaking loudly
- Not using headphones
- Ignoring basic etiquette
And those problems already exist.
We have all been on flights with passengers watching videos without headphones or carrying on loud conversations across rows. Those behaviors are far more disruptive than a phone call.
I wrote about this recently after a FaceTime incident onboard United, where the issue was not the call itself, but how it was conducted (although the call itself was not allowed, per United policy). That is where conflict arises.
My Own Experience
I have flown on JSX, where inflight connectivity makes calls possible, and it was not an issue. I have also flown on carriers like Emirates and Qatar Airways, which have not strictly prohibited calls, and again, it was not the chaos many predict.
In practice, most people do not want to broadcast their conversations to a cabin full of strangers.
There is a natural social pressure to behave. Yes, there will be outliers (there always are). But we already deal with those outliers in other contexts onboard. I just don’t see it as a huge problem, naive as some of you may find that viewpoint.
But if airlines are going to allow calls, they need to be willing to step in when passengers abuse that privilege. That means telling someone to lower their voice and always requiring headphones.
And yes, that may lead to more onboard confrontations. But that does not have to be the case if antisocial behavior is not tolerated.
CONCLUSION
British Airways is poised to allow passengers to conduct calls while using Starlink Internet onboard. The issue has never been about calls themselves, but whether passengers can behave like adults in a shared space.
Most can. Some will not…just like when talking to a seatmate or watching TikTok without headphones. Bottom line, I don’t predict an uptick fistfights onboard…it’s going to be just fine.
> Read More: Here’s Why I Support In-Flight Cell Phone Calls
“There is a natural social pressure to behave. Yes, there will be outliers ”
Time will tell. This site is already full of examples of the outliers and entitlement is everywhere, so I’m less optimistic that people will self-regulate.
No one, short of the President of a country needs to be on a phone during a flight unless an emergency is happening. Yes, this does have disaster written all over it because people can’t follow basic decency.
In the unfortunate event a personal tragedy happens, the person should take the phone to the restroom and complete the call. But this is a rare occurrence.
Anything that gives people another option to be rude and disruptive of us isn’t a good thing in any way to me. I’m old enough to remember phones in the back of seats that were used during 9/11. In spite of that they were removed.
The good news is you will be getting more material for stories when the inevitable arguments and fights happen.
What’s up with this coordinated push by all the Boarding Area affiliates to push this idea recently? Seems like a bad idea, for keeping the peace, on board.
Sorry, but under no circumstances can I see this as a good idea. Loud, entitled morons in every class of service will abuse the privilege and make what is already a miserable experience even worse.
Matthew is all wrong once more. Likely he has never flown Qatar Airways despite pumping us all the credit cards enabling travel on a Q-Suite. Lack of exeprience shows again.
Let me get that loud and clear for those of you hard of hearing:
NOISE CANCELLING HEADPHONES CANCEL BEST BACKGROUND NOISE BUT HAVE A TENDANCY TO ISOLATE HUMAN VOICE AS A RESULT. THEREFORE, THE GUY SITTING BEHIND AND RUNNING AN INDIAN CALL CENTER USING STARLINK, EVEN IF MINDFUL, WILL BE MORE AUDIBLE AND MORE DISTRACTING WITH A NOISE CANCELLING HEADPHONE THAN WITHOUT IF HIS/HER VOICE WAS DILUTED WITH ENGINE NOISE. IT IS EVEN WORSE AS A MATTER OF FACT.
As a result, Matthew wants to destroy your experience on the aspirational tickets and cabins he keeps advertising for you when pumping his credit card referrals. What ‘s the point of a lie flat bed when you can;t sleep because teh guy behind is running a call center. Even worse, when the guy behinds becomes agitated because his employees are not doing what he wants.
What a lack of foresight. What is the volume that will be too loud for speaking? Who will be the loud-speaking police? Who will be enforcing community standards? None. FA will be playing candy crush while you can’t rest.
Just what I want. I fall asleep on a TATL flight (a rarity for me) and a nearby Bozo “needs” to call his wife because he can. “Hey, honey, guess where I’m calling from. Let’s have a pointless half hour conversation.” Yes, I know people can talk to a wife next to them. But, in my experience those folks respect others better than those on phones.
This indulgent approach could lead to demands for “quiet zones” on flights and create difficulties for cabin crew in enforcing acceptable behaviour… Let’s wait and see what happens!
Airlines may want to charge a premium for seats in newly-designated “quiet/calm” cabin sub-sections. Would remind me of those lousy smoking sections on planes, but instead you’d have to pay for seat selections for the heir to the non-smoking section that could stink of smoke too.
I’m ok with this as long as we are also now permitted to beat up other passengers during the flight.
My first in-flight voice and video calls using in-flight internet took place over 20 years ago, but I was only testing it, using headsets, and said very little on the call and just wanted to listen. Over 30 years ago, I was using the in-flight GTE (or whatever) Airfone, but that too was mostly to coordinate ground transport or listen to calls, answering machine/phone voicemails. That said, I am not looking forward to all the inconsiderate behavior that will follow from in-flight phone use for calls of various sorts when we still have lots of people whose phones make sounds in theaters and other locations where they are disruptive to performances.
Only a real tool would support this idea. Totally clueless. Let the chaos, Fight Club, and flight diversions begin!
This doesn’t need to be a theoretical exercise. And calls aren’t the problem.
Have you been on a bus lately? I try to minimise car use within the city due to issues with roadworks, parking, speed bumps, and the prevalence of cameras (take the wrong turn and your £100 ticket will be in the post!). I’m in the middle of England, in an urban area which may not be posh but nor is it the sort of place where you’d be scared to walk at night.
Whenever I can’t use the local train and find myself relegated to a bus (maybe 3-4 times a month), there’s a ca. 40% chance that at least one fellow passenger will be broadcasting reels from Instagram/Tiktok to the rest of us. Most regular pax (people clearly commuting to/from work) seem to be perfectly OK with that- I imagine there’s a split between those who are trying to avoid confrontation (this is England, after all) and those who’d happily do the same on another day.
The great thing about the bus is that there’s an opportunity to disembark every couple of hundred metres…something that wouldn’t be available to the passengers of an A350 crossing the Pacific Ocean.
“That’s not necessarily a bad thing”
Agreed, it’s a catastrophically terrible thing. People can’t keep their voices down in club lounges and airport lounges. Do you truly think that having them blather loudly right by you when you’re trying to sleep, work, or read is somehow a good idea? As to trying to make the FA’s into the decibel police, they can’t control people without dealing with inflight calls so why would they suddenly become much more stringent about following the rules?
In absolutely no universe – possibly excluding in Japan – is this remotely practical; it’s simply a monumental disaster waiting to happen. I saw the headline and genuinely thought I’d missed an April Fool’s gag. I’d love to be wrong but I would literally bet a vast amount of money that I’m not.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but in the event of someone talking loudly and/or obnoxiously during an in-flight phone call, can’t their call be disconnected? Typically, connecting to inflight WiFi requires logging in to their frequent flyer account, at least on United. Assuming they are sitting in their assigned seat, it shouldn’t be hard to identify that person, and to see if that account is using a telephony app by seeing if a voice port is being used. Then blocking that port.
I am amused by the belief that social norms will keep caller speaking softly and quietly. Thats obviouslyis going to be abused as people frequently are loud and endless in phone calls in many public spaces. It then forces the crew to make a subjective decision as to what is appropriate. I was recently on a train where the person 5 seats away was on her phone for nearly three hours. She literally drove every passenger to other cars or at leat 6 rows away. And the train seating was far more spacious than a plane.
Bless BA, they keep giving you reasons to fly with anyone else. BA = Best Avoided