Text Advances Communication On Plane

Welcome Aboard

Airlines are competing to find new ways of "getting more passengers onto planes with the promise of more luxurious and fun ways to pass the time in the air," according to an August 8, 2006 Airwise News article.

Although the article is dated some years back the statement provided a bold look at what draws passengers to fly certain carriers.

Airlines today offer all sort of on board activities to pass the time to take the passenger's mind off of flying.

With advances in communication technology, text messaging has found its place sitting in an isle or window seat heading for Hawaii.

Imagine talking to friends and family members at 37,000 feet above the Earth.

Yes, it's literally gone ozone.

Richard Branson was the person who first proposed the idea for this sort of person-to-person communication back in 2006.

Airlines are making strides to equipped aircraft with the technology to bring this to fruition, but not all aircraft are up to date.

The Federal Aviation Administration sets the regulations that control air travel.

The use of communication devices on board an aircraft, other than the equipment used to navigate the plane, has always been prohibited for use.

As you, however, staying connected has become the backbone in consumer culture.

Everyone has a cell phone or computer with wireless capabilities and they want full excess all the time.

Jetblue for example has experimented with testing in-flight e-mail and IM. It received overwhelming acclaim and is fee free; the service on Beta Blue, the only aircraft in their fleet with these capabilities.

Other airlines, like American Airlines and Virgin America plan on offering on-board broadbandon-board broadband. They will, however, charge for the service.

Overall, the issue was debated about the use of cell phones on planes because of the close proximity in an overcrowded situation.

"The public doesn't want to be subjected to people talking on their cell phones on an already over packed airplane," said Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.).

But as time progresses and regulations aggressively are challenged, it's only a matter of time before cell chatter will be heard on planes.

Thank For Flying :)