In 1999, long before binge-worthy series became available on multiple streaming platforms, the show The West Wing premiered on cable TV. In a season one episode, a character onboard an airliner is asked to turn his cell phone off by a member of the cabin crew. The man, posing a question many real-life flyers have asked over the ensuing 25 years about modern aircraft versus cell phone, quips, “I can still flummox this thing with something I bought at Radio Shack?”
The short answer is, of course you cannot.
The clash over cell phone use on commercial aircraft has not only become rooted in the average flyer’s experience as a part of the welcome aboard announcement and associated inconvenience, but also in a kind of myth about its origins and its actual consequences.
If a phone, or a cabin full of phones, could simply be turned on (or accidentally left on), and the subsequent electromagnetic interference was sufficient to unhinge the aircraft’s navigation and communication systems, the result would have been the end of commercial air transportation. Clearly, this has not been the case. Not only are modern aircraft systems adequately shielded to prevent electromagnetic interference, but robust scientific experimentation has also concluded that personal electronic device (PED) interference is neither possible nor a threat to the flight.
In December 2024, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) indicated they were reviewing Part 22 of the commission’s rules on mobile phone usage aboard aircraft. But wait, what does the FCC have to do with this? Everything actually—because it was the FCC to begin with that instituted the ban on mobile phone usage while airborne. Contrary to popular belief, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) does not actually prohibit the use of cell phones on planes. In fact, the FAA’s Federal Aviation Regulation (FAR) 91.21 basically says that if the operator of an aircraft is going to allow the use of PEDs (including cell phones) while airborne, then the device(s) may not interfere with electronic systems, including communications and navigation.
In 1991, eight years before The West Wing commenced airing weekly episodes, cell phones were a rarity, and even more so to actually have access to one while on a plane, unless you were on a private jet. At that time, the FCC was concerned about fast-moving aircraft at altitude impinging on limited radio-spectrum availability and channel reuse, which is basically the way cell phones connect to base stations as they pass by (or over it as this case would be) always searching for the strongest signal. The potential airborne result was interference with cellular services on the ground, coupled with the inability to accurately bill those users for cellular network usage. So, there we go—like many things in life, follow the money trail. This had less to do with concerns over what the phones might do to the plane, and more with how it might interfere with service volume, billing and profitability.
Over the years, as PEDs became ubiquitous, the airlines had to address the practical use of phones on planes. Because the FAA does require airlines to provide a safety briefing to passengers before each flight, and (spoiler alert) because cell phones are often a distraction, the airlines have been competing for passengers’ required attention with an ever-increasing desire by many onboard to be heads down in their socials. This has morphed into a safety issue for the airlines that has led us to, “. . . the cabin door is now closed, and all cell phones must be turned off or placed in airplane mode at this time.”
In recent years, the airlines have relaxed their position on PED usage at any time while on board including during taxi, takeoff and landing. This has come about because, frankly, the conflict involved just isn’t worth it for the cabin crew, and monitoring violators is simply untenable. Thus, the internal debate has shifted to whether to allow cell phones for more than just texting and reading email (i.e., talking) while onboard. If you were immediately repulsed by this notion, you’re our kind of reader.
Imagine a five-hour flight from San Francisco to Newark sitting between Bob, the power broker, screaming into his phone about making moves to stay ahead of the competition and next quarter’s profit margin, and Aunt Maude, describing in agonizing detail her pat down at the TSA security checkpoint, is a nightmare scenario for countless passengers and crew. Many people value the one place in social life where they can escape their own and everyone else’s cell-phone use for a while. Further, the Association of Flight Attendants (AFA) has directly called on the FCC and the Department of Transportation to maintain a ban on inflight phone calls in the interest of safety, security, and preventing an increase in conflict events—as well as the assured exponential rise in aggravation of everyone in the cabin—for certain, something truly worse than snakes on planes.*
The authors of the Grey Matter column completely agree with the AFA, and we hope you do too.
*If you missed it, this is a reference to the 2006 action film directed by David Ellis, starring Samuel L. Jackson as an FBI agent on a plane full of deliberately released poisonous snakes, on a Honolulu to Los Angeles flight, intended to kill a witness in a mob-boss’ trial.
