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Should we ban cell phones during flights?
Yeah, I know mobile phones are already banned while flying in the US, but there's been talk of lifting that rule. One Congressman is trying to stop the madness before it even starts.
Oregon Democrat Peter DeFazio is sponsoring a House bill called the Halting Airplane Noise to Give Us Peace Act--or HANG UP. It would prevent the FCC from allowing phone use during flights, as some foreign airlines do. DeFazio wrote this opinion piece in US News and World Report:
It is bad enough when the person sitting next to you on an overnight flight leaves the light on. Now imagine trying to sleep while he yaks on the phone. And on a plane, unlike on a bus or a train, a passenger cannot get up and move to get away from a person's cellphone conversation...
Ringing cellphones and loud phone conversations will not only disturb and annoy fellow travelers but could result in arguments and fights at 30,000 feet, forcing flight attendants to serve as referees.
The Association of Flight Attendants-CWA is all for DeFazio's ban. So is the National Business Travel Association. The people in favor of cell phones during flight seem to have a special interest in seeing it happen. Carl Biersack, executive director of the Inflight Passenger Communications Coalition, wrote this retort to DeFazio:
Despite predictions that in-flight cellphone usage would lead to Armageddon, the global rollout has been just the opposite. In 20 months of global usage, there has not been one reported incident or problem...
The proposed ban is based upon the incorrect assumption that everyone else on the planet is just more polite than we are and that American flight crews cannot maintain cabin decorum as their foreign counterparts have done and continue to do every day. As with all technology advances, Americans can and will rapidly learn to make the necessary etiquette adjustments.
You buying that? Besides Biersack's firm belief in American politeness, he argues that calls from the sky are expensive enough to deter usage. Plus, there are a limited number of calls that can go out at one time. And he says the cabin's background noise will drown out yakking passengers.
DeFazio thinks as technology progresses, the limit on outgoing lines and the high rates will disappear. He says the background noise will only make people talk louder.
I find it hard to believe that an activity that is barely tolerable now would be improved by allowing people to make phone calls... you know, based on the experience of being just about anywhere else in public these days.
But what do you think? Oh, and if you need a good chuckle, this piece is pretty damn funny.
Flying is bad enough without allowing cell phone usage. I can't imagine that someone, sooner or later, and probably sooner, will not reach over and break that telephone into tiny pieces.
Don’t forget that it isn’t just cell phones – WiFi support is also proposed. Mr. Biersack’s interest is commercial: Members of his “Coalition†will make money if in-flight communications are allowed. But it goes beyond that: It calls into question the veracity of all those announcements about “electronic devices†over the years. You know the ones:
<i>“At this time the cabin doors are closed. As they might interfere with navigational equipment, please turn off and stow all radios, cell hones, and other electronic equipment using or generating radio frequency signals. They must remain off and stowed until the aircraft has arrived at the gate at our destination.†</i>
Could it be that those announcements were always BS? Could it be that there was no technical problem? That the only “problem†was that the airlines hadn’t yet figured out a way to make money off of it?
If we combine [1] bad Airline customer service, with [2] standing room only seating, with [3] people talking loudly the whole flight, then we will end up with more [4] people going postal.
... that is packing themselves in large crates and having themselves delivered by the US Postal Service!
{All 4 items have been seen in the news.}
Yes, we do need legislation. Without a law to protect our personal rights it will never happen. I have already seen people using programs to talk on the internet. These programs are designed to bypass the FCC rules. Aircell/Gogo do not do anything to stop it because Aircell originally wanted internet phone service and counted on it before the FCC shut them down.
My opinion is that internet is also not needed on a plane. Can Aircell block porn and other questionable viewing? Why should I or my kids have to sit next to someone watching a horror movie full of sex and blood? There is a code of conduct that should be set by law to protect the public from those that do not care about others. We had to do it with smoking.
How about a internet only section in the back?
First, you're assuming that people will be able to maintain a cell signal while moving at 500 mph. I think you'll see a lot of dropped calls.
That said, I would like to be able to use an internet air card with a laoptop on a flight if it would work. It would make a boring flight go much more smoothly.
