Seen on the newswires:
[T]he House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee approved by voice vote a bill that would make the current Federal Aviation Administration and Federal Communication Commission ban on cell phone use during flight permanent.
The committee’s action comes as the European Union is moving to allow airline passengers to talk on their cell phones during flight. Some U.S. airlines are experimenting with in-flight Internet access. And some lawmakers worry that domestic airlines might try to get the cell phone ban lifted so they can charge passengers extra to sit in no-phone sections.
"I do believe this is important that we don’t make what is already a crowded and difficult environment for the traveling public and flight attendants" worse by allowing cell phone use in-flight, said Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., sponsor of the Halting Airplane Noise to Give Us Peace (HANG UP) Act.
Normally Iβd make a little bit of noise and grumbling over over-regulating life, and the futility of legislating good manners. However, with the FCC having made noises on lifting the ban of cell phone usage in the air, and with the ban having already been lifted in Europeβ¦Iβm not too terribly upset.
The potential for being stuck in the back of a sardine can on a long, transcontinental flight trying to ignore half of several cell phone conversations would almost be enough to get me to find a job which required less travel.
