Let’s Stay Connected

Let’s all stay connected, yippee yay!

Peaceful air travel is at an end. After all the hassles of getting to the airport on time, dealing with cancelled flights, changed boarding gates, immigration formalities and customs checks don’t look forward to sitting back and relaxing to the droning throb of your flight. Try not to switch off for you are going to be switched on in a big way. Forget the reading, contemplating, sleeping. All this will soon be of the past with plans for the new kind of travel.

The importance of connectivity is here. Flying three hours, or fifteen hours does not make a difference. Above 10,000 feet? Not a problem. We shall be moving with the times. Singapore Airlines will the first with this great connection innovation and Cathay Pacific Airlines is soon to follow. Access to wifi, internet and mobile, yes, mobile telephone service, not just texting or sending and receiving of emails but real life calls.

Just lean back, stay connected, talk, talk, talk. A mobile phone stuck to the ear and multi-tasking – eating, drinking, filling up forms or anything else one does on the plane. One might have to bring two or three mobile phones for those urgent calls that come in while you are on one. Of course, the airline company will take into consideration the other passengers like me, who will be slowly sliding into total insanity with a talking passenger next me. To minimize my discomfort a code of conduct will be introduced. Travellers will be asked to follow the new flying etiquette – consideration for fellow passengers. The staff will be trained to help everyone in this respect.

‘Please set your phone to silent mode and talk at a normal level.’ Note the key word here is normal. And more etiquette bonus. During night-time flights, voice function of the mobile phone will be disabled. Wow!

Flying days with innovative airlines will soon come to an end for some passengers. I am saving up for a private jet or maybe grow a pair of wings in my garden along with herbs, potatoes, papaya and banana.