My Worst Nightmare – phones on planes

Posted by Stan on 9/05/07 • Categorized as China News

I was having a decent day until I saw this post on Imagethief about mobile phone service on planes. Once upon a time, I enjoyed a long trans-Pacific flight for the peace and quiet it gave me. Clients couldn’t call, other lawyers couldn’t berate me for something or another, and there was a limit as to how much work I could do (laptop battery).

That all seems to be coming to an end. Power outlets are more common now, so my laptop battery excuse doesn’t work as well as it used to. Clients don’t seem to care if you are in the air anymore – just get it done on time, that’s the bottom line. How many times have you heard this from your boss: “You’re a professional. Learn how to manage your time!”

So now we have the spectre of mobile phones on planes. Great. We already have the fun of guys yakking at the beginning of a flight until the flight crew literally has to wrest the phone away and shove the device in an overhead compartment for the duration of the trip.

And we all know what happens at the end of a flight in China, when the Chinese seatbelt disease shows itself. Studies have shown that Chinese men have a dangerous allergy to seatbelts and, if they are kept on too long, some people may actually slip into anaphylactic shock. Only undoing the seatbelt and switching on a mobile phone, preferably while standing up at the same time the plane is taxiing to the gate, can keep this dangerous condition at bay.

If mobile phones can be left on during the entire flight, then I will no doubt always be seated next to some 14-year-old girl from Shanghai who needs to talk to her friend back home about her recent shoe purchases. A 13-hour flight will in no way exhaust the potential shoe-related topics available to her.

In other words, I will not be taking any flights in the future. Lucky for me, DLA Piper has videoconferencing equipment here in Beijing, not to mention we have thousands of lawyers all over the world, which obviates the need for me to get on a plane.

I am rethinking my traditional distaste of Luddite philosophy.

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1 Comment

  1. Shopgirl's Shanghai Lifestyle blog
    Thursday, September 6, 2007 • 2:13 am

    hahaha I so agree. I HATE IT when I see someone playing with their cellphones on the plane, or when some people stand up when the plane is just starting to “fly up”.

    Don’t they understand that it is DANGEROUS to have their cellphone turned on during a flight? also what is annoying is that they turn it on directly when the flight has reached ground even if they say in the loudspeaker to not open it.

    stupid impatient people