Salon tells us that the pilot is a real first officer with a major U.S. carrier. His name is Bryce Watson. His heavily edited story is probably partially true. The trouble is that the commercial is so painfully silly that its already produced an almost certainly fictitious internet tall tale that we're certain will be forwarded to our inbox for years to come:
On one of the frequent-flier blogs, an airline pilot writes that only moments after informing his passengers of a weather-related ground hold affecting their flight to Memphis, Tenn., he and his captain received a call from one of the flight attendants. Seems an iPhone-wielding customer in the back had a challenge. "Some guy with an iPhone says the weather is good," the flight attendant says, "and wants to know what the real reason is for the delay. Is something wrong with the plane?"The reason for this story's existence is simple. Weather delays are really traffic delays. Bad weather in one area means delays in another. It's not just a matter of checking weather.com with your phone. Most people know this.I like that, "real reason." The implication, as always, is that the carrier is lying or otherwise withholding some critical information. There must be some dangerous malfunction they're not telling us about. After all, "the weather is good," so obviously there's no reason we can't depart immediately.
Reportedly, the captain responded with a public address announcement that was sharp enough to elicit audible laughter from the cabin.
"If the passenger with the iPhone would be kind enough," he began, "to use it to check the weather at our alternate airport, then calculate our revised fuel burn due to being rerouted, then call our dispatcher to arrange our amended release, then make a call to the nearest traffic control center to arrange a new slot time (among all the other aircraft carrying passengers with iPhones), we'll then 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 multimillion-dollar aircraft and its 84 passengers to safely leave."
The article in Salon goes on to interview dispatchers and debunk the entire silly commercial:
"Usually, traffic delays to Newark aren't due to weather itself," says another dispatcher, with 12 years' experience at both regional and major airlines. "It's about volume. Looking at a radar map on an iPhone will not help your chances at getting an early release. That commercial is total B.S."
Not buying it when the pilot tells you weather is holding up your flight? iPhone to the rescue! [Salon]
]]>Almost as great as Apples commercial of The PC singing an alternate verse to a christmas song (Forgot which one) insulting the Mac, followed by the mac standing there stunned for a moment, with no retort.
@DrGirlfriend:
i have to admit my cousin brought his 2 year gf home for thanksgiving and no one could remember where the a is supposed to be in her name so we looked her up on facebook using my phone.
i always bring up the stupidity of this commercial though especially since it was their wedding website and the BOYFRIEND knew the address yet couldnt remember the new wifes name whos all over it?
]]>The pilot handled that awesomely. (is that a word?) Stupid people getting put in their place is what makes life just that much better.
]]>@Nicococure: Not to mention that guy had two phones: one for texting. Dub. Tee. Eff?
]]>i'm saving for the icar
]]>All of the iPhone commercials so far have been questionable. The "iphone saved me from carrying 4 different communication tools" commercial makes it seem as though it's a life necessity to have all of those things on you. The pilot discussing the flight delay prevented by the iPhone strikes me as though we "might not" be hearing the entire story.
]]>As in this commerical, any smartphone with internet access can check the weather. Others, such as the one where the guy would say "I had an MP3, camera and phone before, not I only need my iPhone." Hate to break it to you, but that combination has been available for quite some time.
The only commercial that highlights the difference is the visual voice mail. Oh wow. I wonder how often that will come into play, even for me. I rarely have more than one voicemail in my inbox anyway.
]]>I must've be really low on Apple kool-aid.
]]>If anyone believes this story (especially the pilots 'speech') you're a moron. There's a Nigerian prince I need to introduce you to.
]]>@DrGirlfriend: Apparently Apple ad executives have decided their commercials should be five kinds of stupid.
The fictitious story may end up happening thanks to the Apple ad. That would be kind of awesome if it did but no one will believe it now.
]]>Current events. Current!
]]>When I first saw that ad, my first thought was that if the pilot of a plane I was on decided to take some guy on an iPhone's weather advice over his traffic control center's, I'd be tearing past anyone in my way to get off that plane.
You know which Applie ad I also dislike? The dude who used his iPhone to find out the name of his girlfriend's boss's fiancee. Sure, very sneaky and all, but he makes it sound like he pulled off this huge caper. You surfed the web on a phone -- good job, buddy.
]]>And we all know they NEVER do that...
]]>"I lost 85 lbs using X!" then at the bottom of the screen: results not typical, weigh loss acheived with a combination of diet, exercise and liposuction.
]]>He claims to have needed a separate phone for handling his email. Like he couldn't have also used that one for making phone calls. He probably also carried a calculator, travel alarm, and calendar at all times before he got his iPhone.
]]>So I figure the real story is that he was doing this iPhone browsing long before the plane had even boarded, and that all he did was notify flight control of information they would have seen themselves when they eventually got around to looking at his flight plan.
]]>Shocked.
]]>@Pylon83: But don't most planes nowadays have their own radar? Or at least have some sort of connection to weather data without calling? It should be something they always can see...or so I thought.
]]>I always felt like they cut out "[So an hr and a half into the delay,] I checked the weather and a half hour later we were in the air"
i.e., we waited the full 2 hrs
]]>Although I've been at the gate when during real weather delays on the east coast, the pilot was looking up people's flight info on his Treo and showing the radar maps to people...
]]>