Life Imitates Advertising. Results? Not So Good.

Posted by: Arik Hesseldahl on November 21, 2007

For all of you getting on a plane later today, I share the following iPhone anecdote. Perhaps you’ve seen seen this latest Apple advertising campaign for the iPhone, the one with real iPhone owners talking about how they’ve found novel uses for the little gadget. The one embedded above depicts an airline pilot who used his iPhone to cut short a weather delay by, well, checking the weather.

Well there’s a story going around today about a passenger on an airliner who did exactly the same thing when his plane was diverted to another destination because of weather. As reported by PlaneBuzz and passed on by Slashgear and The Boy Genius Report, after hearing that his plane would be diverted to another destination, the passenger used his iPhone to check the weather, finds that its really not raining at the original destination and wants to know the real reason for the delay.

The response from the captain, announced over the PA system to all aboard, says it all:

“If the passenger with the IPhone would be kind enough to use it to check the weather at our alternate, calculate our fuel burn due to being rerouted around the storms, call the dispatcher to arrange our release, and then make a phone call to the nearest Air Traffic Control center to arrange our timely departure amongst the other aircraft carrying passengers with IPhones, then we will be more than happy to depart. Please ring your call button to advise the Flight Attendant and your fellow passengers when you deem it ready and responsible for this multi-million dollar aircraft and its passengers to safely leave.”

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