Many years ago, I remember boarding an American Airlines 767 and discovering a telephone handset embedded in the seatback in front of me.

It was a first generation "airphone," and it was quite the novelty. I delighted in — at least for the first few flights — picking up the phone, inserting my credit card, calling friends at random and asking the inevitable (and ultimately annoying) "guess where I am" question.

Speaking of annoying, the phones didn't last long.

Despite several attempts to bring modern phone technology back to flights, those moves have been met with resistance. But now, it appears, the phones may indeed be coming back.

First, some background: