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DID
YOU KNOW THAT
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| What to believe
when you travel |
| • If you use
your cellphone, the plane will crash. |
| • Cruise ships
are all-inclusive. |
| • If you rent
a car with a credit card, you don’t need additional insurance. |
| • Taking the
train in Europe is cheaper than flying. |
| • Recirculated
cabin air on planes will make you sick. |
| • X-ray machines
at airport security checkpoints can erase your computer’s hard drive. |
| • Your hotel
card key can be used to steal your identity. |
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These
are just some of the things many travelers believe to be true. And,
in fact, with a couple of qualifications, they are nothing more
than the latest batch of travel
myths.
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Let’s
start with the Blackberry/cell phone myth. Every airline flight
attendant makes more or less the same announcement, insisting you
turn off your cellphones and Blackberries, blueberries, strawberries
and other personal electronic devices because “they interfere with
the plane’s navigational systems.” If you ask if it’s a rule, the
flight attendant will tell you it’s FAA policy. True or false?
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False
on both counts. First, the FAA has tested personal electronic devices,
including iPods, Gameboys and laptops. Their scientists—for more
than 25 years now—have bumped up the RF interference these devices
give off, up to 100 times their normal levels, at distances of less
than three feet from sensitive cockpit avionics. And guess what?
Nothing happened. Nothing has ever happened. So did the FAA make
a rule? Or a policy? Not exactly.
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Under
the current federal air regulations, the FAA simply states that
it was unable to prove any connection or link between operating
these devices and airplane system interference. But it hasn’t made
a rule; it's left to each individual airline to set policy. So,
if you insist on ignoring the flight attendant by using your Blackberry,
you may be in violation of an airline’s policy (and subject to arrest
for interfering with a flight crew). But no, the plane won’t crash
because you were sending emails.
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