Opinion is Shifting, Nearly Half of Passengers Want to Allow Inflight Cell Phone Calls

Americans generally are against allowing inflight use of cell phones. They don’t want to be trapped listening to their seat opponent yap. However opinion on this may be shifting. A new survey shows that nearly half of Americans want to allow it, though Americans are among the least likely to favor it in the world. Passengers in China, India, the UAE and South Africa are far more supportive.


Copyright: creatista / 123RF Stock Photo

Cell phone calls are being made from planes every single day in Europe, the Mideast and Asia. US consumers have said in the past that they don’t like the idea of cell phone use on planes, but most have never experienced it.

Oddly those passengers idealize air travel, clamoring that it’s a blissful, peaceful oasis today that they wouldn’t want to change. Which of course sounds like almost no domestic flight I know.

In fact nothing bad happens because of inflight cell phone calls, relatively few people make calls because the service is expensive, and those that do tend to be discrete about it as the airlines ask them to.

Opponents have the burden to explain why ‘really bad things’ will happen if cell phone use is allowed onboard US flights when bad things don’t happen on Lufthansa, Aer Lingus, Etihad, Virgin Atlantic, SAS, or Emirates.

Amtrak allows cell phones in a confined space, too,. They also have quiet cars where phones aren’t allowed. There’s only one Amtrak operating commercial train service, you have your choice of airlines and some carriers — United and Delta specifically — have said they’d compete by not permitting inflight cell phone use. So you could choose airlines that ban it if you don’t want to fly an airline where cell phones calls are being made from the air.


Union Station, Washington DC

Planes had seatback phones for years. They weren’t often used because they were expensive, just like inflight cell phone calling is expensive.

The calls that would be made are the ones people find important enough to pay a premium for. For instance there’s the case of the woman who might have been able to stop a suicide if she could have used her phone inflight. There are painful tragedies, and special moments repeating themselves across the country every day. How many business travelers would love to say good night to a young child they rarely see during the week? What would that extra connectedness to a parent mean to that child?

Not every call is important, but some are. If you value the connectivity, fly an airline that allows it. If you value listening only to the noise of engines, crying babies, and drunk passengers talking to each other then fly an airline that bans it.

About Gary Leff

Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel - a topic he has covered since 2002. Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »

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Comments

  1. The thing is you will get these obnoxious people who will talk loudly on their phones the entire flight.
    I guess I could bring my portable bluetooth speaker and turn up the volume.

  2. I’m thinking that, like on Amtrak, there should be a reserved section for those who want to talk on their phones.

    Like on the wing.

  3. No thanks. The most pertinent examples of what U.S. in-flight cell phone use would be like is not other airlines’ international flights but what it’s like before domestic flight’ take-off and what Amtrak is like in the non-quiet cars. And it can get pretty loud and obnoxious on both.

    In addition, the notion that we already put up with screaming babies and drunken passengers is a red herring. For one thing, the fact that there’s some annoying noise doesn’t mean we should add to it. For another, the in-flight cell use might well be much more frequent than those other problems. For yet another, I think most of us accept that screaming babies can’t help themselves, and in any event they often stop after a short period of time. And as for drunken or otherwise obnoxious passengers, in my experience they’re pretty rare and we can get flight attendants to get them to quiet down if necessary.

    So, sorry, send texts or emails if in-flight communications are so vital to you. In terms of policy and practice, let’s try to keep air travel from getting any worse than it currently is.

  4. Oh man Michael has it right. The wing. Or the lav.
    Oh please no on this! I’m going to end up catching a case after b*tch slapping some corporate Dbag DYKWIA for refusing to STFU.

  5. @Gary —> “If you value the connectivity, fly an airline that allows it. If you value listening only to the noise of engines, crying babies, and drunk passengers talking to each other then fly an airline that bans it.”

    1) This implies it’s either one or the other: allow cellphone calls, and you won’t have “the noise of engines, crying babies, and drunk passengers talking to each other.” Clearly this isn’t true, but there are times when syntax is everything.

    2) The ONLY constant in place engine noise, and that’s what noise-cancelling headphones were invented for! ;^)

    3) Only on rare occasions have I experienced crying babies inflight, and even then it seems to occur a) mostly (but not solely) on long international flights where the kids can’t sleep, are cranky, and want the flight to be done already; and b) primarily during the descent, due to air pressure and “popping” ears. This, too, is why noise-cancelling headphones are a must — even though it’s a rare (for me) to experience them.

    4) When it comes to “drunk passengers talking to each other,” I suppose that would be better than them talking to me, but I honestly cannot recall a single incident of a drunk, unruly passenger(s) causing trouble on any flight I’ve taken — and that’s over 400 flights (according to my flight memory.com list). Perhaps that’s because I don’t fly into Texas very much, or to New Orleans right before Mardi Gras — I honestly don’t know. I don’t fly Ryanair or easyjet, so I get to miss all that, and I’ve never been on a flight where a sports team was coming home after winning a major world championship. Perhaps it’s just the timing of the flights I do take, or perhaps I’m just lucky! Now, I *do* fly in and out of Las Vegas a few times a year. A good friend of mine is an FA for Southwest, and she tells me that — no matter how much liquor is loaded onboard — they are “always empty” by the time service stops and the aircraft begins its approach for landing. But I’ve never witnessed any behavior that could be considered bad, out-of-control, or dangerous due to alcohol consumption. (OK, there once was a group of 20-something women heading to Vegas for a bachelorette party, but all they did was giggle a lot and take a lot of selfies.)

    Gary, as you probably know from some of my prior posts, I spent over 40 years in the wine business. The one that that *everyone* in the alcoholic beverage trade is sensitive to (albeit to varying degrees) is overconsumption, be it a DUI/DWI, a rowdy fan at a sporting event, or an unruly passenger on an aircraft. Let’s face it: DUIs and overconsumption generally is BAD FOR BUSINESS. No one wants to sell that last drink/glass of wine/beer THAT much, no business owner needs the profit of that sale so badly, that they are willing to risk the wrath of the Neo-Prohibitionists and more governmental restrictions.

    As I’ve often pointed out, it is unlawful to sell alcohol to someone who is intoxicated. Period. FA’s undergo training for that. Now, it’s human nature to wish to avoid confrontations, and I have no doubt that there are restaurant servers, retail liquor store clerks (including the kid at the gas station that has a cooler full of beer), and even flight attendants that figure it’s easier to sell that bottle/glass/can to someone rather than face some angry, drunk, 250 lb. jackass threatening to punch you in the face if you don’t sell him that alcohol…I get that. But that is an example of the server, clerk, and/or FA *not* doing their job. ESPECIALLY on board an aircraft, where the primary job of an FA is *not* to serve alcohol, but the safety of the plane and its passengers. There are certainly times when doing the former threatens the latter.

    But I digress…. ;^)

  6. Who funded that study? I just took a casual pool among friends and family, and the most anyone has ever said on the “yay” side was for cell phone use allowed while grounded prior to taxi, and upon landing to notify of arrival. Other than that, thumbs down!

  7. Nooooooooooooooo. Flights may not be a “blissful, peaceful oasis” but this will only add to the bedlam. A casual look at Gary’s own blog will show that the actions of the “traveling public” these days prove they (as a group) are too immature and self-centered to limit the volume and length of calls to a reasonable level. So nope nope nope nope nope.

  8. First of all, why should anyone care about the opinions of the large pool of survey respondents who rarely fly or don’t fly at all? We know from prior posting that even among those who fly 50% fly < once per year.
    Secondly, with wifi calling the calls could be essentially free so that would act as no barrier.
    Thirdly, it's a reality that some people talk far louder on cell phones than they converse and would be even louder to cover engine noise. How about calls with your cell on speaker, is that okay.
    How many times have you heard some blowhard "business executive" talking officiously about some deal or really about nothing, but just to sound or feel important, as the plane sits at the gate? I have encountered it many times. How would you like a few hours of that?
    With the ongoing degradation of the flying experience overall, the last thing we need is loud endless blabbing on the phone.
    P.S. Parker is considering offering special cell phone eligible seats for a $50 upcharge.
    PPS Parker is considering banning cell phones for basic economy

  9. As usual, Gary, you get a pretty close to 100% negative response every time you bring up this idea. Doesn’t discourage you! 🙂

    The UAE numbers probably substantially double count Indian travelers. So in effect, Indian and Chinese air travelers (and therefore most likely urban residents) are substantially more comfortable with public airing of conversation and the attendant noise, which is unsurprising given their exposure/lack of choice regarding density. Everyone else is a lot less enthusiastic, and the split probably reflects those aware of public manners versus the oblivious prats! Usage of that last term does not actually confirm British background.

  10. This would be so horrible. You already have people on planes who are totally oblivious to the fact that they are in public space, carrying on like they are in their living room. They are usually families.
    But on top of that, to have to listen to the same inane business conversations on the plane that you hear at the boarding area? Just shoot me now.

  11. No. Totally opposed to calls on planes. Intrusive and loud. Can’t imagine that red eye with someone gabbing the whole time as you try to sleep, yelling over the background noise..

  12. No! People are obnoxious and unaware how loud they could get on a phone! Imagine someone has a conversation when everyone else is sleeping.

    People are already getting feisty over limited leg rooms and lack of personal space on the plane. Allowing phone calls is just opening up a can of worms.

  13. Oh hell no.

    I have listen to these jackasses sitting at the gate talking loudly on freaking speakerphone… I can’t imagine this on a flight.

    I guess I would just have to pickup my phone and start an “fake” loud obnoxious call… “Yeah, he’s got gonorrhea, apparently it’s the antibiotic resistant one… You know,, he had to goto the emergency room last time to get that thing removed, it was still powered on and vibrating when the doctors removed it… What? They got Zeus?… Oh Noooooooo!

  14. No good can come of a blanket allowance for cell phone calls on flights. None. If it’s truly an emergency, then that’s different and a passenger can alert a flight attendant and arrangements can be made to contact the ground. If this did go forward, it would only result in more rules and regulations by various bodies AFTER someone complains, a fight breaks out, etc. Yes, flying in general has become more raucous and unpleasant, but do we have to ADD to it? About the only winner would be Bose and the like who would see an increase in noise cancelling headphone sales and the losers would be, at large, the flying public.

  15. It’s bad enough that we have to listen to the self-important douches flapping their gums prior to push-back and now it would be for the entire flight? I don’t think so.

  16. really? On my last Transatlantic flight had a teenager playing music from his cell phone for 30 min until a FA told him to turn it off. Another on the flight to Europe was listing to the basketball game on his cell phone the entire time we were boarding a 777.

    Can not wait to be on a red eye with Mr & Ms Gabby who needs to talk to their kids about doing their home work and what they wore on their date.

    The price will not matter! The price will come down when they use it more and more.

  17. Worst idea ever. Bad enough we have to overhear these cell phone calls in airport. I like my piece and quiet on planes. I can choose to converse with person next to me if I choose. Hope this idea is forgotten.

  18. I’m glad it’s against the law. Our government should be focused on forcing people to be considerate. First things first, remove the president’s vocal cords.

  19. Airplane pressurization suppresses our heating, so we compensate by talking Louder and LOUDER. Since some people can still hear normally, they hear these conversations and have to compensate by using ear plugs or headphones. But if they do want to speak to their seatmate, they can’t have their ears plugged, right? Anyway, people can text using inflight wifi and, of 23 comments posted, not a single person complained about other passengers texting during the flight. One never Trumper was getting to that, but is probably amused enough by the tweets that he stops short of hoping to disable his honor’s Twitter account.

  20. I agree with the others who state that texting is sufficient. If ppl need to communicate with ppl on the ground during a flight then they can just text.

    I do not have any issues with ppl watching a basketball game or listening to music or talking on the phone as long as the cabin door is open. But when the crew closes the cabin door then I am in favor of all incoming sound on devices ends and no speaking on your phone, start texting.

  21. “Airplane pressurization suppresses our heating”

    I always wondered why my wife gets so cold on airplanes…

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