Frequent Flyers, Call Home

By J.D. Reed

Fulfilling a yen to keep in touch while airborne

Although commercial-airline ads make lavish promises, "frequent flyers," as harried business passengers are called, know that three things are rare in the air: an on-time takeoff, a good meal and the use of a telephone. While the airlines work on promptness, the third problem will soon be remedied. Next month several American Airlines and TWA flights will begin carrying telephones for passenger use.

For years businessmen and women have yearned to keep in touch while airborne. In 1980 the FCC awarded an experimental developmental license to Oak Brook, Ill.-based Airfone, Inc., partially owned by Western Union, to test their system on long-distance, wide-bodied flights. By the end of the year, a number of carriers, including United and Delta, are planning to offer in-flight phoning. More than business will be done at 30,000 ft. Says American's public relations manager, Joe Stroup: "We now see the passenger calling Aunt Bessie to tell her what time he'll arrive and to make some of that great meat loaf. The American public just doesn't want to be divorced from its telephone."

The procedure is almost as easy as on earth. Callers will insert a major credit card into the slot on cordless, pushbutton models mounted in the cabin. The passenger can return to his seat with the handset and direct-dial any U.S. number (international calls are yet to be offered). The unit on the airplane is programmed to search out the best of Airfone's ground relay stations across the nation, one of which will automatically transfer the call to regular AT&T long lines. Callers will even be able to check in with their home answering machines for messages, talk to their stockbrokers and place orders with their favorite catalog houses. The charges, which will appear on the customer's monthly credit-card statement, are high-altitude: $7.50 for the first three minutes or less and $1.25 for each additional minute, regardless of distance.

Airfone is hardly the first such experiment. Since the late 1940s, numerous systems, some of them versions of two-way radio, have been tested, but they were of poor quality and limited range. Private and corporate aircraft have long been licensed for radio telephones, but they require special operators, and calls can be overheard on some other radio equipment. Lack of privacy, however, has not deterred the clients of small and svelte Regent Air, which began the old-fashioned service in August. In addition to being provided with caviar and executive secretaries for $810 one-way between the New York area and Los Angeles, passengers have called Paris, Rome, Santiago and even Chasen's restaurant in Hollywood for dinner reservations. The price: $7.35 for the first three minutes, plus charges for a regular operator-assisted call.

Major carriers are enthusiastic about the Airfone's reliability and usefulness. TWA already has equipment on board six planes, and United has prepared an in-flight video pitch to show passengers. No one, however, has yet dealt with what may become a new hazard of air travel for those weary frequent flyers: sitting next to someone engaged in a long and boring yak with the ground. One consolation, observes Delta Public Relations Director Bill Berry: "You can call out, but people can't call you." At least not for now.

With reporting by Valerie Mindel