Flight Attendants Want to Keep Inflight Mobile Phone Ban

[Jonathon Watkins]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.engadget.com/entry/1234000160039150/' target='_blank'>http://www.engadget.com/entry/1234000160039150/</a><br /><br /></div><i>"As much as our cellphone has become an extension of our body, we’ve been dreading the prospect of the FCC lifting the ban on inflight cellphone use (yeah, maybe it’d be nice to check your voicemail from 30,000 feet, but you’ll change your mind the first time you get stuck next to some foolio who insists on chattering away on their phone for 90 minutes). The FCC’s already gotten flamed by travelers who apparently aren’t happy about this either, and we may have gained a very significant ally in the form of the Association of Flight Attendants, which is rallying its members against allowing cellphones during flights." </i><br /><br />I have to agree with Engadget's dread. I can see it now: "No! You'll have to speak up, I'm on the plane!" All it takes is a few idiots to spoil it for the rest of us. :? As long as the airlines still allow us to use our Pocket PCs for data-centric work, I'll be happy. It's the Flight Attendants that have historically been rather.... trigger happy in this regard.

[DaleReeck]

Yeah, I can see the point about the 90 minute call idiot you're sitting next to :) Like those people who can't put the damn cellphone down for 5 minutes while they check out in the supermarket :evil:

[stevelam]

people could do all they want with their phones (text etc) as long as they dont use it as a phone.

[egads]

I've been on field trips with my kids and there have been parents who have talk almost the entire time on the cell phone. There are times I really wish I had a cell phone jammer :twisted:

[sralmas]

Let's not lose focus here, folks. Whether it might be rude to talk on a cell phone while in flight should not be left to the FCC or the FAA. If there is a safety issue, that is one thing. If the technology is safe for inflight use, that is the end of the FCC and FAA authority. Now, if an airline wants to ban use because of civility issues, let the market determine whether that makes sence (and this comes from a lifelong Democrat). If someone next to you is speaking too loudly, or bothering you, politely ask them to stop, but why should I be prevented from getting my email while in flight, or quietly checking in with my family or office if I am not bothering anyone else (perhaps the seats next to me are empty!)

[bjornkeizers]

People talking on planes is a safety issue - if I was to sit next to someone who's on the phone the entire freakin' flight, you're going to see a serious case of air-rage. It's bad enough being in a plane for an extended period of time (what with crying babys, smelly people, bad food, worse flight crews) - we sure as hell don't need another problem.

[Paragon]

We have had cellphones on planes for a number of years without problems, the ones in the back of the seat. We never had problems with them because the cost of using them keeps use down. I have a feeling this will be the case with the new regulations. Airlines and their providers will be charging an arm and a leg for inflight use.

Personally I think WiFi is a much better option. It is unobtrusive to others and still allows users to be in contact using email, Messenger, and so on. Chances are those who have a need to be in contact will have a laptop or PDA with WiFi, while the bulk of folks with just a cellphone are more likely to be just gabbers.

I've always been very vocal against jamming cellphones. I think on planes with such tight quarters for extended periods of time cellphone use may not be a good solution. BUT every plane should be equipped with WiFi in place of cellphones.

Dave

[MitchellO]

Yeah, wifi in planes would be good. And they definately would charge a fortune for use in the air. An sms costs $5!!

All I want is data, and thats it. No talking. A Wifi hotspot on planes is a great idea, and charge for the flight. no pesky download limit, just unlimited broadband for the flight for a nominal fee. i bet it would be popular.

[gorkon280]

You CAN'T legistlate the right for someone to NOT be a idiot(Iwanted to use a stronger word, but theirs children present). I think sralmas is right on the money with this one. If people can't yak on thier cells, then they will do something else to annoy you or the flight attendent. Personally, I'd rather it be allowed. Why? Well, as any well worn air travler knows, you NEED headphones. Whether it's for the in flight movie or just to listen to some music it's well worth the 5 bucks. You can drown out the crying babies, the guy next to you snoring or the idiot yakking for 3 hours on the 4 hour flight. Plus they help keep your sanity when your in the back row of a dc9 by drowning out the engine drone. My point is, people are GOING to be idiots, one way or another. Making cells illegal because people are going to abuse it is the saddest thing I have ever heard of. The government needs to stay OUT of stuff like this. First it's cell phones and next thing would be wearing too much perfume. Where do they stop?

[Paragon]

First it's cell phones and next thing would be wearing too much perfume. Where do they stop?

Personally I think they should stop somewhere AFTER stinky feet!

You make some very good points that I agree with though.

Dave

[PDANEWBIE]

If the technology is safe for inflight use, that is the end of the FCC and FAA authority.

Hrmmm makes me wonder why the FCC is going to try to legislate what we watch on cable next. Also their attempts to gwet the ball rolling on censoring Satalite radio. Is that unsafe as well? Ths sad reality is both the FAA and The FCC are government entities that have more fun telling people what they can and can't do than they do being rational themselves.

I'm not saying I want phones to be off planes forever. I actually think I am indifferent as being in a plane I am already annoyed that my 6'3" frame is squished into those tiny seats they call coach while I have some person on one side listening to music too loud and someone wresteling their luggage they jammed under my seat.

Personally I say make air travel more comfortable and then I might have time to be annoyed at the person talking on the cell phone.

[digital843]

There was almost no mention ofthe fact that most idiots are SHOUTING into the cellphone. On a city bus I can hear people in the last row of seats all the way up to the front. So it's not just the guy in the seat next to you but everyone for 14 rows in either direction.(hmmmm 28 x 5 = 140 potential headaches)

[cavuu]

If they are going to allow cellphones, the airline should have a cellphone only section of the plane, it can be part of the smoking area if that is still allowed.
Asking people in advance to be quiet on the phone or considerate doesn't hack it. The obnoxious loud mouth doesn't care, any restaraunt visit will prove that.

[jeffmd]

newbie, where did that crap come from? The FCCs realm of control has NOT been increasing for a long time.

That said, as much as I think vocal use of the phones on planes is a bad idea, it SHOULD be up to the airline and not the FCC.

[shawnc]

Most reasonable people will agree that the FCC should not be able to legislate borish behavior. Having said that, in this case I hope they make an exception. No way a cell phone messes up the navigation system of a $200M DC8 but I don't want the self-important inconsiderate traveler sitting next to me yapping on his/her cell phone for 75% of my flight.

I also don't buy the checking-in argument. Everyone knows you're flying. Check-in before lift-off or after landing. Can't believe ANYONE is so important that they folks have to know where they are while their in the air.

I also agree with an earlier post that its not just the person sitting next to you. Its the one sitting 3 rows behind you who doesn't understand that he's not speaking into a tin can with a string attached.

No cell phones on an airplane. I don't care how they accomplish this, just please, don't let it happen!

[cavuu]

If the technology is safe for inflight use, that is the end of the FCC and FAA authority.

Personally I say make air travel more comfortable and then I might have time to be annoyed at the person talking on the cell phone.

That one is easy, just move to first class. Of course it will cost...

[PDANEWBIE]

jeffmd

That "crap" came from the fact that FCC has said time and again they want to take control over the pay media's such as satalite radio and cable stations. All you have to do is to listen to the the radio or read the news. Just do any goole search on FCC Cable Satalite Radio and you will see that yes they do have intentions of expanding into other media sources.

If you need links I'll be more than happy to provide them but they are numerous and can be found anywhere with a single search before calling what I have to say crap.

As for the FAA I'll let it speak for itself since you can't even get too high in the sky before you start to get complaints unless your licensed and registered. There have been stories for years about people doing lawn chair ballon flights then getting fined by the FAA.

cavuu

As far as going to first class I love your thought but some people just can't afford to pay those prices. I don't think size of a person in height should be something that forces you to be paying more. I have from day 1 of my flying endevors stated I would pay 25 bucks more a seat if they just removed 3 rows from their planes and made the spaces bigger. If everyone would only pay 25$ more on a full flight you would have an increase of $ spent and EVERYONE would have more legroom instead of packing these planes like sardine cans.

The problem is with everything profit oriented when the first thing they think of is slipping in a few more seats.

So again I state until airplanes are not flying sardine can's I'll prolly have gripes about alot of things besides cell phone use.

[gt24]

Quick post, I got to scoot very soon now... but I wanted to put in my two cents...

The FCC could regulate cell phone usage on planes. Simple reason... if you have about 3 dozen cell phone SCREAMERS in the cabin and an emergency situation comes up, there is a possibility that an announcement from the crew for everybody to put on seatbelts, or other important information like that, could simply not be heard. If there is a potential for emergency situations to become more dangerous because of a couple of passengers who want to call somebody and yell "OMG!!! You can't believe what's goin down!!!" over any attendant's attempt at SHUTTING THEM UP... then yeah... cell phones are then an inflight risk... or should I say, a potential danger.

Then again, while anything could potentially be a danger... I just see cell phones to be the most dangerous... comments?

[bjornkeizers]

Yeah, I thought about that as well. It's a huge stretch of course, but I'm with you - I don't care what silly rule or wildly improbable situation the FAA or FCC have to come up with to justify it, as long as the end result is: no phones on planes.

[lapchinj]

It just so happens that I got off a shuttle fight this morning. After landing an announcement came over the intercome that we could now use our cell phones. Well there must have been at least 50 different sounds being made of cell phones booting up. Just after that the amount of people talking and making calls increased to a low roar. Yeah I know everybody wanted to call home or the office to let them know that they arrived but this was bad. Then started the idiots one talking louder than the other because he couldn't hear over the lady next to him and she talking louder and louder with "what did you say...". It was awful. Even if the noise level was halved it would be bad.

And of course there was the fruitcake who didn't want to remove his headphones during landing. I don't know if the 2 stewards and stewardess was able to convince him to take it off but we had to land so I saw them go away. He just plain said no. Try and tell a person like this that he is talking too loud and he should tone it down. Like a few people have said it only takes one person to ruin a good time.

Unfortunately there has to be some agency who regulates this and sets some standards otherwise there will be people will just not listen no matter how much an attendant insists.

Jeff-

[gt24]

An addition to my prior comment...

Cell phones are KNOWN to be a distraction. If a person is listening to music or watching a movie, their attention can be diverted to something else when something else comes up. On a cell phone, however, it is much more difficult to draw a person's attention away from the phone conversation. In addition, folks who talk on cell phones quite a lot don't want distracted from the conversation, so it will be even harder to get their attention.

Now, consider that an airplane goes really really fast very very high in the sky. Turbulance, thunderstorms, atmospheric issues, any equiptment failures, and other things can dramatically change a nice smooth flight to an "interesting" one. Irregardless, when this situation comes up, an announcement is made and signs light up (such as "please fasten seatbelt"). However, a person on a cell phone isn't going to necessarily pay attention to their surroundings nor pause the conversation to stay aware to what is going on.

So, in a situation where something comes up, like turbulance, a cell phone chatter can be knocked from their seat... potentially injuring not only themselves but also other passengers... and those other passengers could always sue not only the cell phone talker, but the plane for not enforcing rules that would maintain their safety. It is plausable.

Finally, getting the attention of cell phone talkers so that they can fasten seatbelts for takeoff or landing would potentially take more time, annoying EVERYBODY, I imagine.

One last tidbit... exactly how do you punish a cell phone user? The last thing you want to with a cell phone user having a fight with the person on the other end is to, after they refuse to stop their conversation, to remove their cell phone. Yes, people DO get enraged about their cell phones and can be a nightmare to get under control, much less to enforce any cell phone deny priviledges. If the passenger gets to be too much for anybody to handle, then it would be likely that the plane would land at the nearest airport so that law enforcement can take over... which increases everybody else's trip time...

The only way to solve this is to have all cell phones lock onto a cell tower located in the plane and to have the ability at that mini-tower to allow/block any cell phones in the plane (which is possible since that tower is the airport's property). However, older cell phones could always try to lock onto towers that are miles below and the decreased signal strength would lead to a TON of cell phone yelling.

A better idea? Why not work with cell phone companies to have your cell phone calls redirected to your plane when your plane is in flight? It would be a technological mess at first, but it is workable and easier to control and manage. The airports update the cell phone providers with the appropriate information (you took off at.... you landed at... etc), the cell phone providers redirect cell calls to your airplane phone if your cell phone is not turned on (they don't see the phone anywhere on the network, in other words), and when you pick up the call, the cell company asks for a security code and refuses to connect your call unless you type in the right one. The caller has "on hold" music and redirects to voice mail if they don't get through. It might be more than generic cell phone service... but it would be a lot less hassle to the passengers... and a lot easier to manage if need be...

[gibson042]

There seems to be some confusion here...

FCC is the Federal Communications Commission, an agency created by and answerable to Congress that is responsible for regulating all wired and wireless communication (including wired and wireless telephony, satellite communication, television, radio, and internet access), ostensibly for the purposes of fairly maximizing interoperability and competition in those domains. They took it upon themselves to regulate radio and television content.

FAA is the Federal Aviation Administration, the part of the Department of Transportation charged with keeping non-military aviation safe through regulations and air traffic control. This is the agency in question here, and up to now mobile phones have been banned on airplanes because of the fear that they could interfere with flight-critical instrumentation. If this is demonstrably not the case, then to maintain the ban would be to overstep their bounds in the same way that the FCC did with respect to content.

I don't want to be annoyed by a loud-talker next to me on an airplane, but the ban should be lifted because enforcing courtesy is not a responsibility of the FAA. I expect airline companies to take care of the issue, either by enforcing their own bans, reserving a portion of the plane for phone use, charging exorbitant fees for use of the service, or some combination of the three.

It is also worth mentioning that this issue is not dependent upon lifting the mobile phone ban. WiFi is available on a handful of flights now and is becoming more and more common. Ever heard of internet telephony (http://skype.com/)?

[tstr14]

I fully support the "cell phone" section idea. How about out on the wing so they can get better reception? :lol:

Via my job, I have been "wired" for years - my first "cell" phone was the size of a lunch box. But while I know the instrument is useful, there are limits. Enclosed public places, including planes, buses and even restrants would be my selection for "no phone zones" as well as the drivers of any motorized transportation.

[OneAngryDwarf]

I say there are two options that should be good for everybody here... one we could instead of banning mobile voice use under the rule of the FCC use exhisting laws for public disturbances and what not to beat down loud mouths... I'd like to lend my two cents and say that the punishment of a public flogging sounds fitting.
Or two and I think we can all agree that this is the superior option, we can make everybody happy by just installing devices capable of transmitting morse code. Much more to the point as compared to voice convos or even sms for that matter. dot dash dash dot... nuff said

[Ekkie Tepsupornchai]

I don't want to be annoyed by a loud-talker next to me on an airplane, but the ban should be lifted because enforcing courtesy is not a responsibility of the FAA. I expect airline companies to take care of the issue, either by enforcing their own bans, reserving a portion of the plane for phone use, charging exorbitant fees for use of the service, or some combination of the three.
Agreed 100%.

I'd prefer about a 10 minute timeframe after take-off and before landing to allow passengers to use their cellphones (provided it does not interfere with cockpit communications). Sometimes I'll need to call someone picking me up to let them know if there's a delay or at least let them know I'm about to arrive. In my nearly 10-years of business travel, that's the only reason I'd really feel I need to use the phone and that kind of call takes me a few minutes maximum.

It is also worth mentioning that this issue is not dependent upon lifting the mobile phone ban. WiFi is available on a handful of flights now and is becoming more and more common. Ever heard of internet telephony (http://skype.com/)?
Yup. I suspect in about a year or two, VOIP solutions will be mainstream technology. It'll be interesting to see where all this heads. If the airlines do ban phone communication but provide WiFi, it'll be yet another type of activity that airline staff will have to understand and police.

[edlboston]

Personally I think WiFi is a much better option. It is unobtrusive to others and still allows users to be in contact using email, Messenger, and so on.

Unobtrusive until they start using VoIP based programs to do thier chatting.

I think it all comes down to common courtesy. Something that is very lacking in modern society. :(

[Jonathon Watkins]

Unobtrusive until they start using VoIP based programs to do thier chatting.

Just what I was thinking

Unobtrusive I think it all comes down to common courtesy. Something that is very lacking in modern society. :(

Sadly true. However, gladly we now have you. Welcome Edlboston and happy posting. 8)