Congress’ current approval rating is a whopping 9 percent, and the average American has no idea just what the 535 congressional lawmakers in that esteemed body do all day. Well, the best and brightest of them has decided it’s time to criminalize cellphone calls on airplanes.
According to our friends at Runway Girl, a group of House reps led by Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) has introduced the Halting Airplane Noise and Give Us Peace act, or HANG-UP. This bit of brilliant legislation would outlaw placing cellphone calls once you’ve taken your seat. "The public doesn’t want to be subjected to people talking on their cellphones on an already over-packed airplane," DeFazio said when introducing the bill. In a bit of bipartisan cooperation rarely seen in Washington these days, bill co-sponsor John Duncan (R-Tenn.) added, "Cellphone users should not be able to disrupt the comfort of an entire airplane cabin. Especially when other passengers have no choice but to sit and listen."
Thank you for you insight gentlemen.
Understandably, the companies that have developed in-flight cellphone technology are not happy with the bill. Aeromobile, OnAir, EMS Technologies and others have come together to form the Passenger Communications Coalition — gotta love the irony of them not having the website working yet — to lobby Congress to drop HANG-UP like an unwanted call. "Once the facts of the matter are understood, any reasonably minded person would say the legislation is not necessary," says EMS Technology’s CEO Paul Domorski.
It’s more than unnecessary. It’s a colossal waste of time.
Our government has been more than willing to take a hands-off approach airline routes, pricing and in-flight amenities (or lack thereof) — prompting some calls for the return of regulation — so why is it suddenly interested in passenger comfort? Let the airlines figure this one out for themselves. If Congress is truly concerned about how people are treated by airlines, we’ve got a long list of things they should tackle before in-flight cellphone usage.
But the bigger question is why any member of Congress considers this a priority at all. The Transportation Committee has bigger fish to fry. Our highways are crumbling like overcooked bacon, our bridges frighteningly fragile and our skies are a congested mess. Take a look at DeFazio’s website and you’ll see he’s doing some good work, but HANG-UP is a joke. He and the 434 other members of the House should focus on things that actually matter.
Photo by Flickr user felixion.
