Cell Phones: Just Plane Annoying

"Disastrous!! A cacophony of sound! The tower of Babel!" wrote Doris Lane.

It's how the Campo, Calif., resident describes her vision of air travel if the Federal Communications Commission lifts the nationwide ban on using cell phones in flight.

The FCC has released comments from flight attendants, passengers and various aviation industry unions, and most say, "Keep the ban." According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, more than 7,700 e-mails and letters have landed on the comments tarmac since the commission started reevaluating the 14-year-old ban in December.

It was passed because of concerns that the signals emitted by cell phones and other electronic devices interfere with the transmissions used to guide takeoffs and landings.

The FCC now believes that this might not be the case. Nevertheless, many of the comments say that a host of issues remain, chief among them quality of life.

It's not that most passengers enjoy spending several hours rocketing through the sky at 37,000 feet in a steel tube that doubles as a germ incubator. Not even the screaming babies, the close talkers or the inconsiderate people who tilt their seats into kneecaps seem to add to the pleasure. We have been conditioned to take all that in stride, even if it produces emotions akin to road rage.

Adding dozens of cell phones to that volatile mix is what tips us over the edge, it seems. Take passenger Richard R. Olsen, who shared his experience with the commission: "[A fellow passenger's] signal was breaking up so his remedy was to talk loudly. The flight attendant had to ask him to quit using the phone. On the ground we can walk away from these rude, inconsiderate jerks. In the air we are trapped."

The Boston Globe provided an example of the conversation that Gayle James of Shelton, Wash., found on one flight: "'I was seated next to a very loud man who was explaining his next porn movie on his cellphone. ... Everyone on that plane was subjected to his explicit blabbering. Should cell use during flight be allowed, we had all better be prepared for a whole lot of air rage going on."

Flight attendant Dorothy Bell predicted that if the FCC allowed phones for emergency use, someone eventually would expand the definition of the word: "Some self-important businessman has an 'emergency' at work and has to get on the ground immediately. What is he going to do, force his way into the cockpit and demand that the pilots return ... so that he can handle his business? That will happen if the FCC allows cell phone usage during flights."

One noteworthy comment came from someone who described himself as a businessman: "People do not realize that they may be sharing proprietary information during their calls, which can be easily heard by others. I have, many times, heard information regarding a patient's name, medical information, etc., that would be in conflict with [federal regulations]."

Another, Steven Brown, described the perfect trajectory of Hell: "Just imagine that ring/conversation being mere inches from your head AND on both sides of you while occupying the middle seat ... for a 5 hour flight from L.A. to New York. ... Hideous."

Susan Gately, writing from Pembroke, Mass., said cell phone use in the cabin would "not only increase tension among passengers, it will compromise flight attendants' ability to maintain order in an emergency. Cell phone use could also enable terrorists to coordinate a plan of action more effectively."