The new chairman of the Federal Communications Commission wants to review and possibly get rid of the agency's "outdated and restrictive rules" banning cellphone calls on planes. To which, most travelers would rightly ask: Why?
Unless you are in business or first class, flying has become increasingly dreadful. There is less room between the seats. The lousy food and wine cost extra. You often have to pay to check your bags. And it can be harder to score space in an overhead bin than a seat at a Manhattan bar. Why would anyone want to add overcaffeinated road warriors jabbering away on their phones to this already foul environment?
At least the F.C.C. chairman, Tom Wheeler, and his four colleagues on the commission only issue rules; they won't be forcing any airlines to allow cellphone calls. Even if they decide to revoke the agency's longstanding ban on cellphone use, each airline will have to decide whether it wants to let passengers make phone calls. They will also have to install telecom equipment in their planes to make calls possible.
Delta has already said it will not do so, because the "overwhelming sentiment" among its customers is that in-flight phone calls can only make their flying experience worse. Train lines and commuter bus services have also recognized the odiousness of noise pollution and restricted phone use by adding quiet cars or by banning calls altogether except for emergencies.
Still, some airlines might see this as yet another opportunity to boost profits. Phone companies would charge you extra for the calls you make in flight and airlines would get a portion of those fees. A handful of European and Asian airlines like Virgin Atlantic, Emirates and Etihad allow passengers traveling on certain planes to use their own mobile phones to make calls. Those calls are billed at international roaming rates, which are usually $1 or more per minute, even when the customer is in domestic airspace.
Here is a suggestion: Airlines should ban phone use on flights that are five hours or less. That's short enough that anybody who really needs to communicate should be able to do so through email or text message by connecting to the in-flight Wi-Fi service. Also, those flights typically use smaller planes in which chattering passengers are more likely to annoy their neighbors.
On longer flights, which are usually served by wide-body planes, airlines should install soundproof phone booths — remember them? — which could be about half the size of plane bathrooms. This should satisfy both the hyperconnected traveler who can never be out of reach and the rest of us who are struggling to get to our destinations with our sanity intact.
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