I like to travel light, thanks to the heavy-as-a-sack-of-bricks camera. So I have my phone, MP3 player, portable game device, GPS, pseudo blackberry (I now get push mail through emoze), organizer, casual camera and video recorder all pack neatly into a Nokia N96.

photo credit: priceminister

It’s great until I get on a plane. My gizmo can’t help but look like a phone. Even though I set it to “flight mode” flight attendants would get into a frenzy at the sight of it and yells at me to switch it off. If you have an Apple iTouch, forget it also, flight attendants can’t tell the diff between that and an Apple iPhone. You’ll be inviting a lot of grief too.

photo credit: The Ninja Monkey

Now I’m not talking about the plane taking off or landing which is an important time for everyone to pay attention. Data has shown that these times are when shit (like a bird) is most likely to hit the fan. Signals from your electrical devices might also interfere with the plane’s navigational systems. Please follow all in-flight instructions on take off and landing.

So I’ve had a few nasty experiences with flight attendants when I was plugged in to my mini jukebox. I tried to explain that it’s in flight mode only to hear them raise their voices as though I didn’t hear them the first time. I could raise my voice too but now there are laws that can get me restrained and arrested as a terrorist for screaming on a plane. Flight attendants can scream but not passengers.

A friend who’s an ex-flight attendant with the same airline I flew on told me that mobile phones in “flight mode” are allowed to operate in flights, it’s in the manual all attendants are given at flight attendant school. So why are they being such a pain to passengers like me?

Come my friends, let’s test out these airlines the next time we fly. But first, put your mobile phones in flight mode please then leave it out in the open with headphones plugged in. Share the reaction you get from your flight attendants. Please do not try this if your phone does not have flight mode.

Flight attendants these days should get with the program and understand that people are going to be reliant on little gadgets like a mobile phone that does more than make phone calls. They should familiarize themselves with mobile phones with flight mode. And if a passenger doesn’t know what’s flight mode, the flight attendant can offer to show him how to set it to flight mode. Unless the airline is a super low budget airline that charges for everything and you can’t bring on board your own entertainment like you can’t bring on board your own food and drinks.

Happy flying.