Why mobiles are not allowed in flight

Even if technical concerns were resolved, evidence exists that most of the public does not want cell phones on airplanes. In , the FCC considered lifting the ban. However, airline travelers protested. While it's hard to avoid crying babies and turbulence, passengers have made it clear they would prefer to limit the noise attached to cell phones to zero.

She has a long career in print and web media, including serving as a managing editor for a monthly nutrition magazine and food editor for a Maryland lifestyle publication. She also owns an Etsy shop selling custom invitations and prints.

The Rules on Using Bluetooth on an Airplane. Air Travel With a Laptop. Travel Tips. The huge increase in air travelers and ever more full — and oversold — flights have made air travel more trying. But it has gotten better in one aspect that most of us in the smartphone-addicted public appreciate: Cellphone use is no longer completely forbidden on planes. We used to have to turn our phones off and store them when we flew commercially, but now can keep them on as long as they are in Airplane Mode.

And what really would happen if everyone started yakking away during cross-country flights? First some basics on how cellphone systems work. When you make or receive a call, your phone looks for the closest cell tower to connect to. As you move from one cell to another, say on your daily commute, your cellphone call gets handed off from one tower to the next.

It requires a fair bit of work on the part of the overall system to make these transitions seem seamless to you. There are also built-in expectations about how often these handoffs should happen not very , the speed of the user highway speeds at most , and your altitude somewhere near the ground. Cellular use on a plane at cruising altitude breaks all three of these expectations. Simply put, calls in the sky may interfere with the proper functioning of this complex system — particularly if a couple hundred passengers all had their cellular radios on — such that users on the ground are affected.

So, for now, the Federal Communications Commission restricts cellular use on airplanes. That all sounds like a service issue, not a safety one.

Likely, nothing. Of course, those outcomes are mostly referring to passengers who are willfully refusing to switch their phones into airplane mode. And the safety concern among passengers has actually made vigilantes of us all, Laurie says, based on his experience as a flight attendant. Why is airplane mode the rule? The Intel Tips and tricks from our travel experts along with the latest news from airlines, hotels, loyalty programs, and more, delivered to your inbox weekly.