Shut up and fly

I don't fly but I can imagine how irritating it would be sitting next to someone on a plane while they chat on their cell phone! It's bad enough in restaurants!

The European Commission recently OK’d the use of mobile phones on flights in European airspace. The federal government hasn’t done the same yet for flights in U.S. airspace, and House lawmakers are taking steps to make sure it doesn’t.

The overarching reason members are pushing the issue: Cell phone chatter is already driving them crazy.

Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.), who is sponsoring a no-cell-phone provision as part of the House Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization, said cell phone etiquette has gotten so bad it could take an act of Congress to keep people in line.

“This is like smoking. Once we knew it was a health risk and a nuisance on airplanes, it still took us a long time to undo it,” DeFazio said. “The words ‘cell phone’ and ‘courtesy’ no longer go together. If people aren’t self-policing on [other] transportation, they’ll be no more self-policing on airplanes.”

But does Congress have the right to legislate cell phone etiquette? Passenger rights activists, small businesses and wireless groups say no, arguing that an in-flight conversation should be no more regulated than a crying baby.

“There isn’t any reason why someone having a normal telephone conversation would be irritating people any more than a regular conversation,” said Jot Carpenter, government affairs vice president for The Wireless Association. “Airlines have figured out how to let passengers watch a movie or raise a window shade without bothering other passengers. They’ve also managed to serve alcohol without problems. I think they can tackle this issue, too.”

But House members who support a continuing ban on airborne cell phone calls say they’ve already been irritated plenty by the calls they’ve had to endure on board before takeoff and after landing.

House Aviation Subcommittee Chairman Jerry Costello (D-Ill.) recalled a flight last year when a man seated behind him pleaded into his cell phone for a girlfriend not to leave him. The plane almost didn’t leave the tarmac when the man refused to hang up.

Democratic Rep. Sam Farr, who has accrued some 2.5 million frequent-flier miles from his weekly trips between Capitol Hill and his California district, remembers being forced to listen to a business-class passenger scream into his cell phone and utter a slew of nasty names before the plane took off. The conversation picked up again as the plane pulled up to the gate after landing in San Francisco. When the man announced loudly to the cabin that he had a connection to make, the passengers got their revenge.

“Everyone made sure to block the aisle. He had angered so many people,” Farr said. “For business-class professionals who are flying all the time, getting on the plane is a timeout. I’ve flown across the country with a colleague and never said a word.”

Rep. Sue Myrick (R-N.C.) said she was recently stuck on a flight sitting next to a man who ignored four requests from the flight attendant to wrap up his conversation.

“Common courtesy has gone down the drain, and people don’t have the respect for others like they used to,” said Myrick. “They think they’re the only ones on the whole plane.”

Opponents of the House provision — which would prohibit the FAA and the Federal Communications Commission from reconsidering the existing cell phone ban — argue that lawmakers’ desire to preserve the last cell phone-free frontier could slam the door on a revenue generator for the airline industry and even infringe on passengers’ civil rights.

Rep. John Mica (R-Fla.) said the provision is overbearing and out of line.

“Looks like we’ve got nothing better to do but ban cell phones on aircraft,” he said. “In the meantime, I’d like to see stronger laws to keep dogs from pooping in my yard.”

The lawmaker said he thinks allowing cell phones could help the airlines make money and generate jobs in the long term.

“I’ve been trapped on a plane with people who drink too much, and I’d like to ban that, too,” he said. “But you can’t legislate good behavior.”

“We think this ban is being based on certain members’ concerns over etiquette or anticipation of those kinds of problems,” said Karen Kerrigan, president of the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Council. “If airline passengers want to be rude, there are many other instruments they could use to be potentially rude. I don’t think we want to cut off potential economic opportunities.”

But passengers bothered by in-flight conversations could become a security risk, potentially leading to air rage, point out some lawmakers and the Association of Flight Attendants.

“There are enough triggers and stressors when it comes to flying that if people are talking on their cell phones and their neighbors don’t approve, it could cause some conflict,” said AFA spokeswoman Corey Caldwell. “It is known you can detonate a bomb with a cell phone. That is clearly a threat.”

“I sure as heck don’t want to sit next to a guy for an entire flight on his cell phone. ... I think this could mean fistfights,” said Rep. Michael Capuano (D-Mass.), a member of the House Transportation Committee.

According to a recent five-year study by the FAA, cell phone signals have the potential to interfere with airplane operations in some circumstances, including on older plane models. In some of the tests, wireless phones set off smoke alarms. And until it can be proved beyond a reasonable doubt that cell phones will not interfere with airplanes, the Federal Communications Commission’s ban is not likely to be revisited, an FAA spokeswoman said.

However, a recent overseas study showed that a European provider of in-flight cell phone calls has recorded 10,000 calls without any airplane interference.

Technology experts said DeFazio’s legislation could be the result of a miscommunication.

“This is not the bus rolling down the highway with every passenger talking at the same time,” said Carpenter.

Experts predict only a dozen passengers at the most would be able to use their phones at one time, and international roaming charges would likely apply, making the calls too expensive for mindless chatter. Individual air carriers would also be able to decide whether to deploy the technology and on which routes to offer it.

And then it would be up to the passengers to exercise proper phone etiquette — or not.

Pamela Eyring, director of The Protocol School of Washington, said it’s theoretically possible to be polite on a cell phone on a plane.

“Proximity from other passengers, length of the conversation and loudness all need to be taken into consideration,” she said. “If you are in a window seat, you can turn away from the middle seat and talk quietly for not too long.”

• Shut up and fly - sm
  • I'd much rather people talked on their cells than - (sm) - Topaz
    • haha, I agree with you on those points! sm - goincrazyquick

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Today, I snapped.  There was this community party sort of deal today for thousands of kids in our city.  I was waiting for the crosswalk west to return to my car with my child.  There was another mother waiting for the crosswalk north with her poor kid.  She was yelling and nagging and grumbling and complaining at this poor youngster, and I just snapped.  "Shut up, mean mom!," I yelled (really loud) to her.  Unbelievably, she took heed.

I guess my point is impatient parents.  If you take on the responsibility of being a parent, then be a good one.  She brought me to the boiling point because I have been hearing this everywhere I go -- mothers losing their tempers, usually 20-somethings who probably thought having a child would be fun.  Don't they realize the damage words do to impressionable young minds, the fate of our future? 

down my throat, which is I am sure what God would want me to do.  I'd make a bet that any church in any city or town would take the offering from a gay person's hand and use it for the better of the church.  Now, who is the sinner? 

Ahhh, but I bet no one wants to talk about that.  What about the molestation of young boys in the catholic religion?  Is that gay too? 

I don't even attend church anymore because there has been too much of this wishy-washy stuff going on and all they want is your money anyway.

I serve and praise and pray to my God as I walk through the Garden of Life and he is with me.  He walks with me and talks with me everyday.  He gets me through the tough times.  Without him, I probably wouldn't be a good person.  I'm glad to have accepted him into my heart when I was 13 and then again when I was 16, but I am not going to say that gay people are sinners because they're not.