British Airways has crossed a line that has held for years, and which many frequent fliers will wish had held. The British flag carrier is about to allow passengers to make and receive phone calls in flight.
This isn’t the dollars-a-minute AirPhone that was built into some airplane seatbacks a generation ago; this is full-on OK to use your phone with the carrier’s new high-speed Starlink connections, now being installed across its fleet.
So far, other airlines haven’t joined in the potentially contentious rule change, and BA is hoping to keep complaints down by telling passengers “If you need to take a call during the flight, we’d appreciate it if you could keep your voice low and use headphones.” No details on what happens when a few dozen passengers are chatting around a passenger who’s trying to doze or read.
In some countries, it’s not even a matter of airline choice; in the U.S., the Federal Communications Commission bans use of mobile networks in flight, and it’s not clear if that also applies to WiFi calling. The Federal Aviation Administration, on the other hand, strongly cautions airlines against it and has considered following that up with a rule.
