Quick Travel Tip: Keep Your Phone Handy
(For you regular travelers, this will not be a new tip.)
A friend of mine, who hasn’t traveled that often before, will soon be traveling for work on a regular basis. She is justifiably a little nervous, so this past weekend I caught her up on all of my tips. One of her questions surprised me, though. She said, “So what’s the deal with phones? I heard from someone that you can’t use them at all while you’re on a plane.” I was quick to correct her—you can use your phone on a plane, but not during the actual flight. In fact, that’s not true either. You can’t use your phone as a phone once the airplane door closes. However, you can use your phone in airplane mode to listen to music, play games, or anything else that doesn’t require it to connect to the phone network.
You can use your phone to talk, text, send email, etc, before the airplane door closes. And you can actually turn on your phone once you land, while your plane is taxiing to the gate. So keep it handy! I’ve noticed that men will often keep their phones in their shirt pockets. I don’t usually have a pocket there, so I keep it in the pocket of my purse, or just hang onto it if I know I’ll be using it for music during the flight.
Mostly, if you pay attention to the flight attendants, you will be fine. They will tell you when to turn your phone off and when it’s okay to use again.
Readers, where do you keep your phones during travel? Do you hope that someday people can talk on their cell phones during flights?












