Search Results for: blog airplanes and cellphones

Travel Tidbits: Chatty Charlie Gets Busted and Parking Violator Finally Pays Up

Let this be a warning to all of you travelers who are obsessed with your cellphones: Airlines mean business when they tell you to shut up. It’s a lesson one Southwest Airlines passenger learned the hard way on Monday. For some reason 50-year-old Joe David Jones refused to get off his cellphone during a flight from Austin to Dallas and he’s now having to pay the price for it. According to police reports, Southwest flight attendants repeatedly asked Jones to hang up his cellphone while the plane was in mid-air, but he refused to comply. When the jet landed at … Continue reading →

Cellphones at 35,000 Feet

Does listening to folks yak incessantly on their cellphones in restaurants or on buses drive you mad? Well, consider how you would feel if Johnny Blabber was given the green light to talk all he wanted on his cellphone during a trans-Atlantic flight. It could happen…and sooner than you think. Earlier this week the European Union opened the way for air travelers to use cellphones to talk, text or send e-mails on planes flying throughout Europe’s airspace. According to travel experts, midair cellphone service may be available in a few months on some airlines for passengers using European GSM technology. … Continue reading →

Travel Warning—-Batteries Not Allowed and Bumping Tragedy

If you tend to travel with loose batteries in your luggage take note—-beginning January 1st the Transportation Department is banning lithium batteries from checked baggage. The new mandate is designed to reduce the risk of fires. According to the Federal Aviation Administration, fire-protection systems in the cargo hold of passenger planes can’t put out fires sparked in lithium batteries. Which means loose lithium batteries can no longer be packed in checked bags. You can still carry lithium batteries in your checked bags if they are installed in electronic devices, such as cameras, cellphones and laptop computers. Also, you can travel … Continue reading →

Travel and The Ban On Electronic Devices—-Is It Going Too Far?

First it was laptops on airplanes, then cell phones in cars. Now, a New York lawmaker wants to ban walkers and runners from traveling across city streets with another popular electronic device. New York State Senator Carl Kruger wants to make traveling around the Empire State safer by creating a law that prohibits pedestrians from using “offending electronic devices” such as iPods, cell phones, and BlackBerries while they cross city streets. The proposed legislation (nicknamed the “iPod Bill”) includes sticking offenders with a $100 fine if they break the law. They would also be issued a criminal court summons and … Continue reading →

Cellphone Movie Festival

I realize that half the world’s population owns a cellphone, but I never thought that statistic would result in the creation of cellphone movie festivals. The event debuted in France in 2005, but this year marks the first time Japan is hosting a version of the festival. The Pocket Films Festival, which organizers call a “groundbreaking event” in the nation, marks yet another use for the omnipresent portable tech device. I’m used to people using their phones to make calls, exchange e-mail, surf the Internet, read novels and navigate miniature digital maps, but to shoot legitimate movies… now I’ve heard … Continue reading →