The United States is behind much of the rest of the world when it comes to using mobile phones on airplanes. Throughout Europe it has become increasingly common for passengers to be allowed to use their mobile phones to make calls during flights. Despite the popularity of this practice at the international level, the United States is fighting against allowing in-flight calls on any of its airlines.
There are two ways in which the United States is fighting in-flight mobile phone use:
1. A national union of flight attendants is urging Congress to ban in-flight cell phone use. This powerful group of people is pushing the government to make clear rules against in-flight cell phone use which would make it illegal for any airline to allow in-flight use of mobile phones. Currently the FCC in the U.S. bans in-flight phone calls but there are several proposals in Congress designed to further solidify this ban.
2. In-flight Wi-Fi in the United States prohibits VoIP calls. Although the United States has started to get with the times in terms of allowing in-flight use of wi-fi, it has limited the use of that relatively new service. One area that it’s blocked is VoIP calls which means that you can’t use your computer to make in-flight calls on U.S. airlines either.
The majority of the concerns that U.S. passengers seem to have about mobile phone use in airplanes are questionable in terms of their legitimacy. For example, a common concern is that one passenger doesn’t want to hear the next having a long private conversation. However, it could be argued that you would hear the same conversation if you were in a public place (such as a coffee shop) where that same person was on the phone. The counterargument here is that you have the option to leave the coffee shop; you don’t have the option to leave the plane. The response to that, however, is that you may have to listen to the same type of private conversation on a plane if you’re seated next to two people who are traveling together.
In reality, most of the arguments against in-flight Wi-Fi just don’t hold up under scrutiny. Airlines in Europe, the Middle East and other regions of the world are allowing their passengers to use their mobile phones on planes with little or no problems. Doesn’t the United States need to just get with the times on this issue?
