Flyers say no to noisy inflight mobile use

Passengers only want to be able to use mobile phones onboard flights if they are restricted to silent features, new research has suggested.

A survey of US consumers by Harris Interactive for Yahoo! shows that almost three-quarters of respondents believe usage should solely comprise non-voice services such as email, instant messaging and text messaging.

The poll also discovered that different age groups want to be able to use different mobile services - while the majority of 18 to 34-year-olds most want to send text messages, more than four in ten 35 to 44-year-olds opted for mobile email.

Nearly seven in ten respondents said that talking on phones should be restricted to a designated area of the plane.

"This new survey overwhelmingly proves the desire of consumers to stay connected to the people, information, interests and passions that are important to them while inflight, but they don't want to be forced to listen to the conversation of the passenger sitting next to them," remarked Bruce Stewart of Yahoo!.

A number of airlines have already rolled out or trialled inflight mobile use, including Emirates and Air France.

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