Features

Is Mobile Tech Grounded?

August 10, 2006

Today’s events have turned the modern world of aviation on its head—news of a foiled terrorist plot involving British airliners headed to the US has led to chaos as trans-Atlantic flights are delayed or cancelled, security measures are tightened, and experts argue about what could happen next.

I’m sobered by these reports, but I know that life can and will go on. I may be a bit more cautious when I fly, and know that I need to allow plenty of time to pass through security checkpoints—gone are the days of rushing to the airport at the last minute—but I’ll still travel just as I have before.

Or will I? According to many reports, carry-on luggage has been virtually banned on flights originating in the UK, with passengers being allowed to take nothing more than their passport and cash. Evidently the suspected plot revolved around constructing some sort of explosive device in the air from separate components brought on a plane, and some experts speculate that an electronic device such as a radio or even the key fob from a set of car keys could have been used to set it off.

The current US ban on liquids and gels in carry-on baggage is annoying, but easily lived with—if I don’t want to check my bags, I can always rely on the hotel to supply the basics, or make a quick run to the drug store once I reach my destination. No big deal, and with proper planning it isn’t too much of an issue.

But what about the future of electronic devices in the cabin of an aircraft? It’s impossible to fly these days without seeing most passengers occupying themselves with laptops, portable DVD players, iPods, and the like. I hadn’t really thought about that prospect until I read a USA Today article that quoted one British airline passanger’s sole response to today’s events as “eight hours without an iPod—that’s the most inconvenient thing.”

I’ll admit that I’ve become very attached to my creature comforts, and when I travel it isn’t a question of if I will bring a device, but rather which ones to bring. In today’s society, most people consider their mobile phone to be indispensable, and the first thing most people do when a plane lands is turn on that phone and call someone immediately.

Maybe we’ll learn to wait until we get our bags in the claim area, but will people start weaning themselves away from mobile phones, PDAs, laptops and Game Boys if we have to check them with the rest of our luggage? I don’t know about you, but I’d rather leave my electronics at home than entrust them to the vagaries of checked luggage and be reduced to praying that my bag pops up OK on that conveyer belt at the other end of the journey.

According to one expert quoted on CNN.com, our aviation security methods, even post 9/11, are outdated because they’re looking toward the past for guidance on what to do in the present. While I certainly don’t look forward to the idea of a ban on all carry-on electronic devices, I do see the possibility that we may all be reading books and flipping through magazines while we’re in the air, because we won’t be allowed to do much else. If we’re lucky, maybe they’ll bring back movies on domestic flights.

What do you think?

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