An increasing number of airlines think the person next to you should be able to chatter away on a cell phone, something some consider the best thing to happen to air travel since in-flight cocktails and others warn will make flying even more hellish.
In-flight cell service has proven quite successful in Europe, where people have chatted the friendly skies on more than 10,000 flights. Although several U.S. carriers offer in-flight Wi-Fi, we’ve yet to see them roll out in-flight phone service, which is still prohibited by the FAA and the Federal Communications Commission.
Some aren’t waiting for the technology to arrive. A group of lawmakers led by Rep. Pete Fazio, D-Ore., have drafted legislation called the Halting Airplane Noise to Give Us Peace (HANG-UP, get it?) Act to ban in-flight cell phone use. Proponents of the bill say the incessant chattering of passengers would make life unbearable for passengers already dealing with delayed flights, crowded planes and the hassle of flying.
But a growing number of passenger rights groups and small business organizations argue the government is grossly overstepping its authority and hasn’t done its homework.
"Given the increased difficulties we face in getting to our destinations these days Americans are spending more and more time at airports and on board commercial aircraft," says Kate Hanni, executive director of the Coalition for an Airline Passengers’ Bill of Rights. "We believe it is essential that the federal government perform a full inquiry before deciding whether to ban the use of wireless communications on commercial flights and that all the relevant benefits and information be considered before a decision is made before Congress."
Mary Kirby over at Runway Girl agrees. She’s a vocal opponent of the Hang-Up Act and questions the government’s attempt to outlaw technological advancement. "If in-flight mobile usage hasn’t been a problem in Asia, Europe, and the Middle East, why on earth do you think it would be a problem here," she writes in a recent post.
It wouldn’t be, according to Emirates executive Patrick Brannelly, who told Kirby the legislation may mark the first time Congress has tried to legislate good manners.
"At the end of the day, people can be rude and disrespectful on aircraft without a phone," he said. "And it sometimes happens, but if they are being charged a few dollars a minute to make a phone call, it gives [people] pause."
But lawmakers pushing for the ban believe they speak for the majority of passengers when they say commercial airlines should be cell-free zones.
"I think many Americans understand the potential for problems on aircraft if 100 or more people start talking on cell phones," DeFazio said. "People are in very, very close quarters and this is a circumstance where you would have a cacophony of people on cell phones that would amount to a great potential for trouble."
Although the Hang Up Act would ban all voice calls, DeFazio says it would allow text messaging and email. It would also allow continued use of those giant, utterly useless seat back telephones that no passenger has picked up since the late 1990s.
DeFazio introduced the bill in April, but so far nothing’s happened with it. Let’s hope it stays that way. Although we can think of nothing worse than being stuck next to some pinhead yammering away incessantly during a transcontinental flight, this isn’t an area the government needs to get involved in.
Photo: Flickr/ Wouter Sonneveldt
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