I think the Saturday Night Live ad about having an affair is a much better ad.

I'm a bad flyer. I hate flying and any thought of bumps along the way get my stomach churning. So, when I fly I always use the iPhone to check the weather in the departing and destination cities.

I was on a plane where the flight was delayed because of weather. The pilot got on the intercom and said something along the lines of "we're waiting for the weather in Bozeman to clear because its going to be quite stormy when we get there."

This contradicted the weather information I got via the iPhone (don't worry, I didn't speak up). So, my thought was that clearly the airline weather information is far more accurate. However, when we finally did arrive in Bozeman the weather was perfectly clear, no wind, rain, nothing. My dad was at the airport the for the couple hours before we arrived and was in Bozeman all day... he said the weather had been perfect the entire time.

So, is the iPhone getting better weather information than our airlines? Please tell me this isn't true because I'm already an uneasy flyer and this will make me even worse. Of course, in reality the pilot was probably using the weather as an excuse rather than telling us about the horrifyingly bad damage to the engines from the previous flight.... and for that I thank him.

Jeff

I always thought it was more important to check the weather between the location you are departing and the destination.

While takeoff and landing are some of the trickier tasks an airline pilot needs to perform on a regular basis, it doesn't mean that is the only time they need to be concerned about the weather.

I am astonished people are using mobile phones on planes. Isn't that forbidden? (It is in Germany where I live.)

Isn't it funny how some guy with access to weather.com knows more about airline schedules and routing than the folks who actually direct planes for a living?!

The link in the article to Patrick Smith's column on Salon (here) is pretty enlightening. I think a lot of times people who might be a little inconvenienced don't really give credit to the folks doing their best to keep things running as efficiently as possible.

Oh, and Frietlag - people aren't supposed to be using any electronic devices once the doors close here in the States either - it's not just a German thing. But I suppose the same arrogance that makes people think they know how the plane should fly also makes them immune to the rules. :-)

Airline pilots, like physicians, are a guild. Like all guilds, they don't like to let their secrets out because it undermines their mystique and power.

The person in the ad is the pilot of the plane, not just an annoying passenger.

All of these "testimonial" iPhone ads annoy the heck out of me, and this one is the worst -- and most preposterous. Time to ditch this direction and develop some new adverts. Perhaps Hodgman and Long should take over? ;)

Mike Wilson,

You can use electronics any time on the plane except take off and landing. They make such announcements all the time and let you know when you need to turn them off.

Jeff