Congress Already Banned Inflight Calls — Now Lawmakers Want DOT To Finally Enforce It

In 2018, Congress passed a law against inflight calls. already enacted 49 U.S.C. §41725 in 2018, directing DOT to promulgate regulations prohibiting passengers from using mobile devices for voice communications during scheduled passenger flights. It bans calls from takeoff through landing, but excludes crew and federal law enforcement officers, and allows calls on phones permanently installed on the aircraft. But DOT never finalized the implementing regulation. The new, bipartisan Quiet Skies Act would require the Department of Transportation to issue regulations implementing a ban of inflight calls within 180 days of passage. Does Starlink Make This More Important Than Ever? Inflight call quality is improving, so we can expect more people to make calls perhaps? On the one hand, the broad rollout of Starlink wifi makes calling so much better. British Airways is explicitly tying their Starlink rollout and allowing inflight calls together. On the other hand, U.S. airlines generally have rules against inflight calling already. Some of them even block such services at the server level. This is about legislating inflight etiquette, rather than safety, and would largely be redundant for U.S. airlines anyway. The Law Would Likely Ban Even Listen-Only Zoom Calls The 2018 law prohibits “voice communications” using a “mobile communications device,” defined as portable wireless equipment used to transmit or receive voice data. This is not limited to cellular networks, dialed telephone numbers or smartphones. Video-only isn’t prohibited. Speaking is. And it’s actually not clear whether listening to a Zoom call with headphones, on mute, would be against the law. What’s prohibited is “engaging in voice communications.” What that means would be subject to the final regulation. Before the law was passed, DOT had actually proposed banning voice communication “made or received” by a passenger. A decade ago DOT thought the final rule should ban listening to calls, not just speaking on them. The Flawed Case For A Ban On Inflight Calls Business Insider presents the case for going through with the ban on inflight calls that Congress passed eight years ago. They lead with “Phone calls on flights could soon be banned” but of course those were already made illegal in 2018, while at the same time the legislation they’re highlighting (Quiet Skies) has merely been introduced. It repeatedly says the bill would force the FAA to act. In fact, the actual bill directs the Secretary of Transportation to take action because this is a consumer protection rulemaking, and not a safety regulation. The article interviews several former flight attendants who make three arguments: Calls are intrusive because passengers are inches apart and callers tend to speak loudly. Calls could distract passengers from safety announcements. A blanket federal rule would spare flight attendants from having to make subjective judgments about which calls are sufficiently disruptive. Of course, no U.S. commercial airline allows these calls today so there are no subjective judgments to make. The piece claims this is about “more than manners” however: There is no evidence that calls have caused accidents, evacuations or missed safety instructions. In fact, calls have been allowed for years on numerous large foreign airlines and there’s been no issues of the sort. People already talk to seatmates, wear noise-canceling headphones and listen to entertainment. An airline can require calls to stop during announcements or prohibit them during taxi, takeoff and landing. They compare an inflight calling ban to the ban on smoking, but that’s silly. Secondhand smoke creates a physical health consequences for non-smokers. Listening to someone try to close a sale doesn’t. A federal prohibition can itself produce confrontations, in fact we see confrontations over inflight calling now when airlines tell people to stop. Inflight Calling Is Actually Fine It’s happening now on airlines throughout the world without the parade of horribles coming to pass. People make calls on Amtrak, and most people don’t even opt for the quiet car. I want to take conference calls inflight all the time – where I’m just an observer, on mute. I want to listen to earnings calls, or media briefings. I hate when Zoom and similar platforms are blocked at the server level. Most people aren’t a nuisance making inflight calls or taking inflight conference calls. People are actually, overall, much quieter doing this than talking to seatmates. I often can’t escape the conversation in the row behind me. What’s more, calls can be really important. A Southwest Airlines passenger departing New Orleans received a text from her husband telling her to forgive him, because he was going to kill himself. She explained the emergency to a flight attendant, who “slapped” the phone down and told her it had to be placed in airplane mode because the aircraft was pushing back. He killed himself while the plane was inflight. If this were about safety, it would be an appropriate role for government. It’s grandstanding. Inflight calling is unpopular, and politicians like to do popular things. Taking away freedom from others who haven’t actually done anything wrong is bad. Airlines should be able to set their own rules. If I want to listen to a call (with ear buds, speaking briefly and softly on a limited basis if at all) I should be able to choose a carrier that permits this. No Action Been Taken Yet On Quiet Skies The Quiet Skies Act is sponsored by Reps. Hillary Scholten (D-MI); Rick Crawford (R-AR); Greg Stanton (D-AZ); Rob Bresnahan (R-PA). The bill has not advanced beyond referral to committee. And the only thing it actually does is require the Department of Transportation to act on a law already passed in 2018, since inflight calling was banned but no timeframe for implementing regulations was included. Topics on this page