I always read the latest articles on airline travel when I’m about to make a flight as I will be doing next week. Yesterday The Seattle Times ran an article on whether passengers should be allowed to use their cell phones during flights. The writer, Tom Belden of The Philadelphia Inquirer, admitted up front to stirring the pot but then did a good job summarizing the current situation (link to article at end of post). Several readers used the Comments feature to weigh in with their opinions. One summed up my feelings exactly.
According to the article there’s a campaign going on to convince passengers and Congress to allow voice calls during flight. Proponents say this would catch us up with the rest of the world. Airlines in Europe, Asia, and Australia permit in-flight phone use. In the United States federal rules ban phone calls once the flight is underway. In addition to technical considerations about interfering with the plane’s navigation and disrupting terrestrial calls, allowing voice calls also raises issues of etiquette and passenger rights (for example, the right not to be trapped next to a person who gabs loudly and endlessly on the phone for the duration of the flight).
Currently, it isn’t clear what Congress will do. As the article says, the House of Representatives has included language to make the voice-call ban permanent in a bill to reauthorize the Federal Aviation Administration. The Senate’s version of the same bill doesn’t include the ban.
Most of the readers who commented on the article were against changing the rules. But oldseattleboy of Kirkland, WA, went a bit further, providing a list of other practices he finds irritating, and commonplace, during air travel. Here’s how he answered the question posed by the article:
Why not? They’ve already shoved the dang boob tube right up our noses! Why can’t people learn to simply read a book or enjoy some quiet time?
NO ONBOARD VIDEO
NO CELLPHONES
TURN DOWN THE PA SYSTEM
TELL THE PILOT TO KEEP HIS MOUTH SHUT
QUIT TRYING TO SELL ME DRINKS
I WILL NEVER WANT YOUR CREDIT CARD
KEEP THE CARTS OUT OF THE AISLES
The only change I would make is to blame the annoying chatter about geographical landmarks you never see because you are in an aisle seat on the co-pilot instead of the pilot. One other suggestion, if people want to communicate and their seatmates don’t appear interesting enough, why don’t they just text?
Mud Bay Blog 
I am against cell phones on flights. We seem to have gotten along without them so far. Texting on planes but not in cars could prove confusing it also discriminates against the thumb challenged of the older generation, Can’t have that. I just wonder how all those iphone users will like it when the coupons from the Walmarts and Targets they are flying over start flowing to their phones.