Riddle Me This

I’m 30,000 feet up. It’s the second time I’ve used my Retina MacBook Pro in-flight. My control key doesn’t work. It worked fine when I was on the ground just half an hour ago.

The riddle: this happened on my previous flight too. Up in the air? No control. Back on the ground? No problem.

I worked around the issue with KeyRemap. But: what‽

Update: Shortly after writing this, many more keys stopped functioning. The failures radiated outward from my control key; Left Shift, Option, and Z were next to go. At some point a good portion of the keyboard was non-functional. I tested again immediately after we landed and, sure enough, the keys worked just fine.

Update 2: It’s not just me. The rMBP is rated at max 10,000 feet; the typical pressure in a commercial flight at cruising altitude is apparently equivalent to between 8,000 and 9,000 feet. How common is this problem?

Update 3: A couple days later. Another flight. Same problem: much of the keyboard ceases to work at cruising altitude. I’m looking for a few intrepid rMBP owners to help confirm my findings…