Passengers will eventually be able to read e-books, play games, and watch videos on their devices during all phases of flight, with very limited exceptions. Electronic items, books and magazines, must be held or put in the seat back pocket during the actual takeoff and landing roll. Cell phones should be in airplane mode or with cellular service disabled – i.e., no signal bars displayed—and cannot be used for voice communications based on FCC regulations that prohibit any airborne calls using cell phones. If your air carrier provides Wi-Fi service during flight, you may use those services. You can also continue to use short-range Bluetooth accessories, like wireless keyboards.
FAA’s personal electronics decision
I was recently on a JetBlue flight where they claimed that putting your phone into Airplane Mode for take off and landing was not good enough – you had to power it off completely.
I doubt anyone complied and the plane didn’t crash. Every time they make overblown demands like that it weakens other things they demand of passengers.
The reason they insisted is because that was the FAA regulation. That is also why the FAA reconsidered the regulation
I don’t remember that stipulation on other flights I’ve been on. But good that the FAA is changing things.
Common sense prevails! Pretty rare in government decisions.
I think the FAA was about to have pitchforks and torches at their gates. No one was buying the BS anymore 🙂
yes, because being conservative and spending 10 years collecting data and making observations about mission critical events is against common sense.
wait, what?
yes, thats been the stipulation has been on every single flight youve been on. you just havent been paying attention.
note that theyre saying the devices must be in airplane mode (no cellular signals). that isnt the same as ignoring everything.
which, of course, is what people are going to do anyway — ignore everything. very few people use airplane mode in my experience. i see the same thing — people put their phone/ipad to sleep, thats it. they dont go into airplane mode, and they dont turn it off. some people claim they didnt even know you could turn it off.
I’ve been paying attention – that’s how I noticed that this announcement that specifically said power it off was different.
Actually, I think this is a recent clarification, though not actual change. They’ve only caught on to people using airplane mode instead of full power-off recently (and it is very recent).
No cell signals from the plane is actually an FCC rule. Cell networks are not designed for phones to be 3 or 4 miles above, so a phone can see way more towers than they should and it can/could cause havok
If the past thirteen years have proved anything, it’s that being conservative probably ought to result in automatic jail time.
Right – it’s for the benefit of the cellphone network, not the safety of the aircraft. If cell phone and wifi signals were really a danger to aircraft, they wouldn’t be allowed in the cabin at all and it would be a very easy way to bring down a plane.
How many people know how to turn off the cellular radio separate from the wifi one? I bet this is a problem for any flights that currently offer wifi although maybe the price of it keeps it limited to business travelers who are running from laptops, not John Doe with his smartphone.
Wait. WiFi connections are fine, but cellular isn’t? 2.4GHz vs 1.9GHz? 4G is 2.5GHz. Why can you use one but not the other??
It doesn’t matter. Wifi is at 2.4 GHz. Cellular is at 1.7,1.8,1.9,2.5 GHz. They’re all the same in regards to interaction with planes.
It’s not for safety at all. It’s because cellular networks can’t handle lots of phones going 500 MPH.
And still no planes have definitively malfunctioned because of signals from a phone.
Fun fact: Gogo uses cellular frequencies and radios to connect planes to the ground. It’s not about safety, it’s about network and spectrum management.
I know it’s about cellular network management and I know it’s different frequencies between wifi and cellular. My point was, if more people start using in-flight wifi and don’t know how to disable the cellular radio separately from the wifi one, there will be a lot of accidental, extraneous cell signals that are going to (attempt to) connect to cell towers, thus confusing the cell network.
i don’t buy it. the FAA has no loyalty or incentive to protect the cell phone companies networks.
i think the simpler explanation is they didn’t know what cell phones would do when they came out, so they flat out said “no cell phones”.
don’t know what to say — it has long been the rule that all electronic devices with a power switch must be in the “off” position. i.e., airplane mode was not good enough
There’s a difference between conservative politics and prudent analysis.