Last weekend, as I settled into my airplane seat and got ready to fly home to DC, the flight attendant told us to buckle our seat belts and turn off our phones, but that we could now leave gadgets on during takeoff and landing. This commonsense change is the first of what may be many, with the FCC considering lifting its in-flight cell phone ban as well. Hostile knee-jerk reactions to the news have made headlines, but ending the ban is a positive step that will enable airlines to make their own policies on cell phone usage during flights.
First, let's be clear: this isn't a debate about the safety or technical feasibility of allowing cell phone use on planes. While the FCC originally banned in-flight calls for technical reasons, the agency has stated that new technology has made that ban obsolete. Responding to criticisms of the proposal, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler drove the point home, saying, "We are the technical agency, and we will make the rules for the way the new technology works."
Of course, he did precede that comment with "I'm the last person in the world who wants to listen to someone talking to me while I fly across the country, but...." And he's not the only one expressing fears of fellow passengers' rampant yammering on future flights -- two December polls showed Americans oppose in-flight calls by large margins: 59-30 and 48-19. But lifting the ban will not create a dystopian future where flyers are "surrounded by fellow passengers blabbing nonstop on their cell phones from the moment a plane takes off until the moment it lands," as some claim.
Imagine how an in-flight call would actually play out in real life. First of all, airplanes are loud. It's difficult enough to hear the flight attendant over the roar of the engines, let alone a cell phone, and this inconvenience would deter any prolonged calls. But even if this were not a factor, our experiences with cell phones in similar, but unregulated, spaces should quell most fears of being annoyed or kept awake on a long flight.
It's currently completely legal to take a phone call on the subway, in an elevator, on the bus, or in other tightly-packed public spaces. Yet these places aren't known for their boisterousness, but the opposite. Who hasn't noticed how awkward a subway or elevator can be, with everyone politely (and silently) avoiding eye contact until their destination? In the absence of a ban, common courtesy and social pressure should be quite effective at keeping cell phone chatting to a minimum.
But in-flight cell phone conversations are not an absolute evil that must be avoided. Unless someone is talking more loudly than normal, they're no more bothersome than neighboring passengers talking to one another. On one of my flights this weekend, there were only about 10 passengers on a plane with at least 80 seats -- no one was sitting in my row, or either one in front or behind me. Should I be prevented from calling a loved one on my cell phone in that situation because of a one-size-fits-all government ban? Whether it's just to say hello or for something more important -- like arranging to get picked up at the airport or checking in on a friend in the hospital -- people should not be prevented from phone calls in all situations just because they may be bothersome in some scenarios.
Maintaining the outright ban on cell phone use is an overreaction to hypotheticals, and prevents positive uses of phones on flights. Lifting the ban would not result in an immediate aerial free-for-all: airlines make their own rules, and some have already said they'd keep their bans if the federal ban is lifted. But others may want to make more flexible policies to get the benefits of phone calls while avoiding its worst negatives. Maybe they'll limit the length of calls, only allow them in certain sections of the plane or find a solution no one's even thought of yet.
But we'll never know what sort of solutions are possible if the federal ban stays in place. Right now, the biggest impediment is the Department of Transportation, which is far less supportive of ending the ban than the FCC. They're currently collecting public comments on the ban to help make their decision -- so submit your comments, and tell the DOT that while we all want to avoid in-flight annoyances, keeping the ban in place isn't the way to do it.