Aer Lingus passengers who do not use flight mode risk sky-high charges

Transatlantic passengers on Aer Lingus flights who ignore repeated requests to turn off their phones or switch them to flight mode risk being hit with sky-high roaming charges even if they never look at their devices while on board the plane. One passenger said he had inadvertently left his phone on in an overhead compartment while flying to the US and was horrified to get a bill for almost US$300 from AT&T, his provider, weeks later. AT&T said the charges were racked up by “antennas installed on the plane that operate outside an unlimited international roaming plan”. The antennas can “automatically connect with phones that are not in flight mode. Aer Lingus confirmed that passengers who failed to switch their phones to flight mode could be hit with unexpectedly high bills but stressed it was not making any money as a result. <br/>