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Nolte

Apparently mobile phones on planes are an annoyance

from todays irish times

Quote:
Dial S for silence as Ryanair begins mid-air phone service

ADAM HARVEY

WITH 40 cent texts and call fees of €2 to €3 per minute, the mid-air mobile phone service launched on some Ryanair aircraft could turn out to be a financial success – but it may not be a winning public relations move, judging from reactions this week during one of the first flights to feature the service.

“It’s an absolute nightmare – you can tell Mr O’Leary that,” said one irate Stansted-to-Dublin passenger, who tutted and rolled her eyes as a Ryanair public relations officer spoke into his phone in the row behind her.

“It only seems loud because we’re on the tarmac – and only six passengers can use their phones on the plane at once,” the Ryanair staffer explained.

The passenger wasn’t convinced: “That’s six too many . . . when I get on a plane I just want to chill out and read – how can I do that with bloody phones ringing all over the place?”

The service, a partnership with Geneva-based firm OnAir, charges international roaming rates to relay calls from a passenger’s mobile to a base station on board the aircraft.

The signal is then bounced up to a satellite, and back down to the ground.

Charges are determined by the service provider, which receives the bulk of the call fee.

At the moment, only Vodafone and O2 customers can use their phones in the air.

The service worked well enough on Thursday when a small number of journalists were invited on board a scheduled Ryanair flight to test the system.

Long chats were ruled out, as the signals are relayed to a base station inside the aircraft, which is switched on only at cruising altitude, so during a flight across the Irish Sea there was about 15 minutes of potential talk time.

This reporter had enough time to call the office, leave a message on his wife’s mobile and dial 11811 to get a number for Ryanair customer service, to see if it was possible to lodge a complaint about passengers using mobile phones.

Alas, the connection was turned off as we began our descent.

In truth, the ringing phones and mobile conversations aren’t as obtrusive as one might think.

The background drone of the engines muffles most discreet conversations from fellow passengers. Incidentally, the aircraft noise forces callers to stick a finger in their other ear so they can hear the person to whom they are talking.

However, the phone chatter is less noticeable than an overheard phone conversation on a train, for instance.

“My immediate reaction is: ‘Is it really necessary’?” said a paying passenger, Blackberry-using publisher Andrew Brown.

“You’ve checked your e-mails at the airport. I don’t spend the whole 55 minutes I’m in the air thinking, ‘Oh God, I’m out of touch’.”

Nevertheless, Mr Brown tried calling home from mid-air with a borrowed phone. There was no answer.

He wasn’t surprised that Ryanair’s O’Leary was offering the service. “He’s done everything but install coin-operated toilets – I suppose something like this was inevitable.”

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspap...page/2009/0221/1224241590526.html

who'd have thought mobile phones on airplanes would be annoying. apparently one person had said this last April in the Irish Times

Quote:
'Hello? I'm on the plane. . .'

Madam, - I wonder if the European Commission is trying to cut carbon emissions by allowing the use of mobile phones on aeroplanes (The Irish Times, April 8th).

This will mean that on every flight there will be at least one person who needs to catch up with a friend they haven't talked to since college. The resultant annoyance to other passengers will result in reduced demand for flying, leading to fewer flights. With fewer flights, carbon emissions will fall.

However, will this reduction in carbon emissions be enough to offset the emission of hot air from the people talking on their mobiles? - Yours, etc,


http://www.irishtimes.com/newspap...ters/2008/0414/1208115795364.html

Mr. Nulty has shown considerable foresight in this and should be applauded for the foresight he has shown. May i so boldly suggest that Mr. Nulty be nominated for the noble prize (whichever one. i don't really care. they all pay the same apparently . Peace would be nice but literature would also  be good. or any of the other 4.)

so could you's all write to stockholm or oslo and reccomend me,,,, i mean Mr. Nulty
Occasionalsweeper

Re: Apparently mobile phones on planes are an annoyance

Nolte wrote:
from todays irish times

“My immediate reaction is: ‘Is it really necessary’?” said a paying passenger, Blackberry-using publisher Andrew Brown.

“You’ve checked your e-mails at the airport. I don’t spend the whole 55 minutes I’m in the air thinking, ‘Oh God, I’m out of touch’.”

Nevertheless, Mr Brown tried calling home from mid-air with a borrowed phone. There was no answer.

He wasn’t surprised that Ryanair’s O’Leary was offering the service. “He’s done everything but install coin-operated toilets – I suppose something like this was inevitable.”

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspap...page/2009/0221/1224241590526.html

O'Leary obvoiusly reads the Irish Times. Will he pay Mr Brown for the idea?

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/22/20090...oe-uk-ryanair-toilet-d987f7f.html
Mrs John Murphy

There is absolutely no reason to fly Ryanair. For one thing the 'cheapness' of the flights are a complete lie. Once you've factored in all of the 'hidden charges' ie using a card, checking in at the airport, hand-luggage etc etc it comes out at about the same price as a 'normal airline'.
Fontfroide

Mrs John Murphy wrote:
There is absolutely no reason to fly Ryanair. For one thing the 'cheapness' of the flights are a complete lie. Once you've factored in all of the 'hidden charges' ie using a card, checking in at the airport, hand-luggage etc etc it comes out at about the same price as a 'normal airline'.


Hey MJM,
I am totally opposed to flying and to cheap flights.  Not that nearly all my friends, and me included sometimes, don't take flights and even cheap ones.  I have priced very carefully, and taken all timings into account for transport from where I live in France to various spots in the UK.  I nearly always take the train.  

BUT ... the truth of the matter is that from around here, the plane is cheaper and faster.  Environmental criteria means it is a loser, and if they actually taxed airline fuel then the planes would not be cheaper.   You are certainly right about hidden costs, and when people say to me, "it only cost me ten pounds" I now they are just being silly.  but even with the costs taken into account it is cheaper to fly than to train.  And the normal flights from here cost a fortune.  They really do.  One other reason that pertains to Ryanair specifically, in many cases there is no other airline that flies to the UK from some of the regional airports in France.   In fact, from Nimes, there is only Ryan Air who uses the airport.

However appalled I am by people who fly as a necessary part of their lives, by people who have two or more houses they have to travel between quickly, by the environmental affect of increased air travel (both on the ground and in the atmosphere), or by Ryan Air in particular as an example of a raw brutal capitalist firm, it really is not true to say that there is "no reason" to fly Ryanair.  There are loads of reasons, but there are also other reasons not to use them.

I am working very hard to figure out how to change views on this airline, cheap airline question, but it really is hard.  Nearly everyone I know and clearly millions I don't, think that flying is great, quite normal, not worth a thought and the cheaper the better.  Obviously!
Fontfroide

Latest trick from those lovely people at RyanAir, backing up everything anyone says about that company and the whole "low cost" nonsense.  

http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2009/feb/27/ryanair-toilet-charge

"It has long cost more than a penny to use a public lavatory but Ryanair is threatening to bring a whole new meaning to sky-high prices by charging passengers to use its aircraft's toilets.

Michael O'Leary, the budget airline's chief executive, revealed today that it is considering coin slots on cubicle doors.

"One thing we have looked at in the past and are looking at again is the possibility of maybe putting a coin slot on the toilet door so that people might actually have to spend a pound to spend a penny in future," he told BBC Breakfast.

He insisted this would not inconvenience passengers. "We are always looking at ways of constantly lowering the cost of air travel and making it affordable and easier for all passengers to fly with us. I don't think there is anybody in history that has got on board a Ryanair craft with less than a pound. What do you do at Liverpool Street station at the moment [when] you need to spend a penny? I think you have to spend 20p to go to the toilets."

Ryanair recently announced it is to shut check-in desks at airports and have passengers check in online instead, and has also decided to end any prospect of peace and quiet on flights by introducing mobile phones. "Our flights are not cathedral-like sanctuaries," O'Leary said last week. Now, it seems passengers might have to cross their legs while phoning home."
Nolte

Re: Apparently mobile phones on planes are an annoyance

Occasionalsweeper wrote:


O'Leary obvoiusly reads the Irish Times. Will he pay Mr Brown for the idea?

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/22/20090...oe-uk-ryanair-toilet-d987f7f.html


i'm actually surprised he's not had this idea before.
ventoux

One way around Lyin'Air's charges...

One way around (some of) Lyin'Air's charges...

Once you've selected your flights, but before paying the credit card charges (5 euros, or 4.75GBP per passenger per flight), open another window & buy a Ryanair gift voucher.... the code comes up instantly, & you can use this to pay for the flights - there's no charge for buying the voucher, & no charge for using it.... only catch I've found is that the vouchers are only available in multiples of 25 (either euros or pounds), & there's no "change" given....

I just booked flights totalling 20GBP - and would have paid 19 to use my card; I bought a 25 pound voucher & saved 14....

I'm sure Mr O'Leary will notice before long, but for now.....  Wink
Nolte

i recall this article fromk febraury in the irish times

Quote:
RYANAIR HAS launched an attack on “idiotic” bloggers after a web developer wrote online about a bug he found in the no-frills airline’s website. Freelance web developer Jason Roe found that while trying to avoid credit card charges when booking through Ryanair’s website, he managed to reduce the flight price to zero.

He shared the glitch, which he says was a usability issue rather than an attempt to get free flights, with readers of his blog and followers on social networking site Twitter. However, the post soon attracted some critical comments.

One branded him an “idiot and a liar”. “You’ve opened one session then another and requested a page meant for a different session, you are so stupid you don’t even know how you did it,” it said.

Another wrote: “I’m not sure what you think you have achieved here, that wouldn’t have gotten you through to the back end . . . You must never have seen a decent exploit if you think this is something worth bragging about.”

Other comments criticised Mr Roe for not reporting the anomaly directly to Ryanair and said “they” were aware of such anomalies.

“When I saw the comments, I was quite taken aback,” Mr Roe said. “It took me a few minutes to work out what I wanted to say.”

He traced the comments via their IP addresses and discovered they appeared to come from Ryanair’s headquarters Ryanair admitted yesterday it was a staff member who posted the comments.

“It is Ryanair policy not to waste time and energy corresponding with idiot bloggers and Ryanair can confirm it won’t be happening again,” Ryanair spokesman Stephen McNamara said.

“Lunatic bloggers can have the blogosphere all to themselves as our people are far too busy driving down the cost of air travel.”


it's amazing one of their workforce spent so much office resources replying to someone on  a  blog. misappropriation of company resources?

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspap...land/2009/0226/1224241835466.html

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