Does airplane mode take data?

I'm going to get a iphone 4s (i know its not as good as s3 but can't afford it.) and no data. My dad is saying that if i put it on airplane mode when i have Wi-Fi for my house on, it won't charge data. (ex: buying a game or surfing internet.) Is this true?

No, it's not true, putting a phone into Airplane Mode disables all cellular data activity (Calls, texting, internet, app store, so you won't be able to do anything with it when it's in airplane mode)

However, when you're connected to Wi-Fi you won't be charged for any Data so you can download to your heart's content because you're using your own internet which you already have set up so you don't need to pay for anything since you're not using your carrier's network for data (3G/4G/EDGE).