Having raced to an airport in the middle of not sure where, at a time of the day that is best slept through, queued for hours to make sure you get a decent choice of seats, you finally settle into your seat, the flight takes off, and you put the mad dash that is travelling with Ryan air behind you, only to discover that the person sitting has a new way to irritate you through the flight – a mobile phone.  Flying, long one of the last phone free zones is no more.  Ryan air has today (19th Feb) launched its in-flight mobile phone service initially onboard 20 of its aircraft.  This is the first step in fitting Ryan air’s entire fleet of over 170 aircraft to allow all passengers to make and receive mobile calls and texts on all Ryan air flights. Ryan air was beaten to the first spot for UK mobile operations by BMI – who have one aircraft operating between London and Moscow, on a pilot programme to see how passengers react, and Air France which was the first in the world to offer phone services on a commercial aircraft.  Unlike other operators though, who are conducting pilots and checking passenger reactions, Ryan air has decided to go straight to a mass roll out of the technology.  Ryan air is planning to roll out the technology across it entire fleet of over 170 aircraft.  Most of the initial aircraft are based in Dublin; however other bases, notably in Italy have also started to roll out the service.

Prices for this service are charged at the standard international (non-EU) rate (€2-€3 pm) and text messages (50c+) and email (€1-€2) from mobile phones, Black Berrys and other smart phones. These price tariffs are set by each mobile service provider and are subject to each customer’s individual price plan.  It remains to be seen how long or if the EU will apply regulation to the tariffs, as to now all previous route operators have either flown routes to destinations out side of the EU, or been non EU carriers.  The EU has over recent years introduced various price capping measures for EU roaming charges – with other airlines mainly concentrating on flights further a field, they avoid this problem, as the destination is generally outside of the EU.