In-flight mobile phone calls on Ryanair as of now

Ryan Air, bastion of quality aviation, has become the first airline to let customers use their mobile phones mid-filght.

Yes, picture the scene – you’re sitting perched upright with your shoulders pushed further towards the seat in front of you than any tray table could ever be, you’ve finished your two euro plus mini bottle of water, you’ve just about managed to ignore the drunken dirges of the stag/hen party on the flight and you’re in that wonderful semi-conscious dream land four-fifths of the way to sleep. And then a phone rings.

“What? I’m on a plane. No, it’s rubbish.”

Fortunately, the reality is that most people won’t be able to afford it anyway because the calls will cost anywhere between £1.50 and £3 per minute and 40p for a text. E-mail will also be possible at £1 or £2 a go and, at those rates, I dread to think would browsing data charges would be

Ryanair has fitted the equipment, as supplied by Swiss firm OnAir, on 20 of their aircraft with the remainder of the 170-strong fleet to follow. You’ll be able to use the service as of today if you’re on either Vodafone or 02.

The other networks are set to follow but do you think the cost of the service is justifiable given that both Ryanair and the networks themselves probably have to fork our for it in some way, and also considering that these charges are way more than anything you’d expect from international roaming. And let’s also consider that you can probably make calls from the air anyway and just get charged in the normal way.

Will you be using the service?

(via Metro)