British Airways recently began installing Starlink Wi-Fi, which is an exciting development, given that it will eventually unlock fast and free Wi-Fi throughout the carrier’s fleet. While this is great news on the surface, British Airways has one surprising policy that’s sure to delight some, and upset others.
British Airways isn’t blocking or banning inflight calls
Generally speaking, airlines have rules against making video and voice calls via inflight Wi-Fi. We’re finally at the point where we’re seeing inflight connectivity that’s fast enough to support these kinds of uses. The major concern is how disruptive it will become if you start allowing inflight voice and video calls, in terms of people not using headphones, talking too loudly, not silencing phones, etc.
Up until this point, Qatar Airways has been one of the only airlines in the world that has allowed these kinds of calls. Meanwhile a vast majority of other airlines have banned them. With British Airways having recently launched Starlink, we’re now learning the carrier’s policy on this — to my surprise, British Airways seems to be adopting Qatar Airways’ policy.
When you go to British Airways’ Starlink Wi-Fi page, you’ll see that the airline writes “please be considerate” with how you use Starlink, and “if you’re making a call, keep your voice low and use headphones.”
Meanwhile when you go to the FAQs section about what Starlink Wi-Fi can be used for, you’ll see it specifically references “video calls.”
Is this good news, or will British Airways reconsider?
I’ve written before broadly about the topic of whether airlines should allow video and voice calls, now that we’re at a point where bandwidth can support it.
The issue here is self-selection — we probably all think we should be able to make these kinds of calls, while thinking others are inconsiderate jerks when they do so.
Do you need to quietly take part in a conference call, where you’re using headphones, speak at a reasonable volume, and don’t have that much you have to say? You should absolutely go for it! Unfortunately you have at least as many people who then end up making endless FaceTime calls without headphones, not turning off their ringers, screaming into their phones, etc.
More on Qatar Airways than any other carrier, I’ve heard a lot of complaints from passengers where they almost wish there wasn’t Starlink Wi-Fi, due to the massive increase in noise in the cabin. I know I’d certainly be annoyed if people weren’t considerate.
If we see widespread acceptance of inflight calls, I can’t help but think that this could turn out to be one of the next big areas of contention between passengers, and leads to some inflight kerfuffles.
Bottom line
While many people are excited that British Airways is installing Starlink Wi-Fi, I imagine fewer people will be happy that video and voice calls will be allowed via the service, which could prove pretty disruptive. Even when airlines ask people to be considerate, actually getting people to use headphones, speak at a reasonable volume, etc., is easier said than done.
What do you make of British Airways’ policy on inflight calls — do you view it as a positive or negative?
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