Let me know if you try this on a flight because I don’t think I could last long.
The truth behind airplane mode (no, it’s not a myth)
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You know the drill. You find your seat, wrestle your carry-on into the overhead bin like it’s a CrossFit challenge, and then, ding! The flight attendant reminds you to switch to airplane mode.
So … what happens if you don’t? Are you going to crash the plane? Trigger the emergency slide midair?
🛑 Da plane, da plane!
Let’s start with the obvious: Your phone isn’t powerful enough to take down a jetliner. Planes are built tough, with shielding and redundant systems to prevent any one gadget from causing a disaster. Your phone? Not that powerful. Sorry, Apple.
But if you and everyone else leave your phones on full blast, the radio noise from all those signals can interfere with the pilots’ communications.
It’s not dramatic. It’s just obnoxious. Think low-level buzzing and static in the pilot’s headset when they’re trying to talk to air traffic control.
It won’t crash the plane. It might make the pilot say, “Can you repeat that?” to air traffic control, which, y’know, isn’t ideal when they’re, oh, coordinating more than a few 900,000-pound hunks of metal going 500 mph across an invisible highway in the sky.
🛩️ It’s not the paint job
This interference is more likely on planes with older electronics, typically ones built before 2005. Some older aircraft have had systems upgraded though. It’s not about the plane’s birthday, it’s about what’s under the hood.
That’s why the rule is still around: It’s easier to just have everyone use airplane mode than risk messing with cockpit comms on the one plane with vintage wiring.
📶 No bars anyway
At 35,000 feet, your phone is desperately pinging towers it flew past five minutes ago. It won’t connect. All it does is kill your battery and waste your time.
The Satanic space flight
Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin rocket launch with Katy Perry and Gayle King is under fire online. Not for science, but for satanic symbols and staged space drama.
Power banks on blast: Starting May 28, Southwest Airlines wants your power bank out and visible while charging. Lithium batteries are tiny arsonists with 19 in-flight incidents already this year. Portable chargers are the second most flammable vibe onboard after e-cigs. Reminder: “Unattended fire” is not a boarding group. Pro tip: Buy a reputable portable charger like this one (21% off)!
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Mach 3.5
The speed of the world’s first supersonic artillery shell, the Sceptre TRBM 155HG. It can hit targets up to 100 miles away with 5-meter accuracy. That puts it well outside the reach of most jamming systems. How? AI, sensors and GPS help it correct its path mid-flight. It’s like Call of Duty, but real.
✈️ A canceled or delayed flight is the worst: Before I leave for the airport, I look up my trip on FlightAware. If your plane is stuck in another city, you’ll see it there before your airline updates its app.
Leavin’ on a jet plane? Don’t wait in line for a bad passport pic. Head to Passport Photo Online and follow a few steps to take the perfect shot at home. This site shows you exactly what to do, so your photo won’t get rejected. I used a publicity photo for my passport. I’m always relieved when a customs officer holds up the photo to my face and passes me through after a long flight.
2 bags
That’s how many you used to check for free on Southwest. Now? That’ll be $80, unless you’ve got status or a branded credit card (paywall link). The “bags fly free” era has been unceremoniously grounded. I’ll never forget when I was on a Southwest Airlines flight. A hard landing was quite jarring. As we pulled up to the gate, our flight attendant announced, “Well, folks, that wasn’t my fault, and it wasn’t the captain’s fault, but it was definitely the asphalt.”
Right place, right time: A man started having heart attack symptoms mid-flight, but luckily, a cardiologist was on board. Even better? The doctor had all the tools to help, including a pocket-size electrocardiogram to monitor abnormal heartbeats. He gave the man medication, stabilized him and saved his life. Wow.
10 minutes
That’s how long a Lufthansa flight cruised without a pilot. The copilot passed out mid-flight while flying solo, because the captain was on a bathroom break. Autopilot kept things chill, but it took five unanswered chimes, an emergency code and some serious heart rate spikes before the captain could break back in and take over.
Best day to book a flight? Do it on a Tuesday. Google says it can save you 13% to 20%. Want the cheapest deal? Book about 38 days out for domestic trips or 50 to 100 days for international. And if you can handle a layover, even better. Those flights are usually 25% cheaper than going direct. You and that neck pillow got this.
⚠️ Flying a drone? Be careful. They’re getting way too close to planes, especially around major U.S. airports. Some have come within 50 to 300 feet of passenger jets mid-flight. Most people don’t even realize they’re flying in restricted zones. The FAA is now testing jammers and lasers to stop it. Yep, it’s that serious.
4 mph
The walking speed you should aim for during exercise. Scientists say it can help lower your risk of heart rhythm problems that lead to heart attacks and strokes down the line. And no, it’s not that fast. The average person walks around 3.5 mph. We’re talking a brisk little stride, not a power walk to catch a flight.
1,000 pieces of content
Available on each Delta flight. That includes 300 movies. A six-person team swaps 20% to 25% of the lineup every 30 days, so frequent fliers don’t get bored. Honestly, I don’t think airplane jokes are funny; they’re just really Boeing.
⚡️3-second tech genius: Track a flight instantly by typing the flight number into Google (like Delta 123) to see the live status and arrival time.
United’s getting Starlink Wi-Fi: And it sounds pretty good. The first customer flight gets it by May, and the airline plans to upgrade 40 planes a month, with 300+ jets getting it by year’s end. It’s supposedly 50 times faster than the current painfully slow onboard Wi-Fi. Free for MileagePlus members. Now if only the snacks were this impressive.
2 hours
Into an Air France flight, the plane made a U-turn back to Paris. A passenger boarded the plane with his phone but somehow couldn’t find it anywhere during the flight. Phone batteries can start a fire, so airlines don’t take chances. My guess: He flushed it. That’s something we never said in the ’80s … “I lost my phone.”
How to find the cheapest time to fly
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Track your friend's flight in real-time
No one enjoys being stuck with airport pickup duty. But just because it’s your turn doesn’t mean you have to sit around, wondering when they’ll show up.