Articles tagged “fcc”

If the FCC approves in-flight phone calls, then at least U.S. airlines will be able to determine for themselves what the policy should be.

Kudos to the house panel for the humor and savvy in leveraging BuzzFeed, but the chairman's opposition to in-flight voice calls is based on pandering and misinformation about a service that has worked without incident on international airlines for years.

Is the passenger in the middle seat on your flight going to be talking endlessly on his or her Samsung Galaxy given international roaming rates of $1 to $2 per minute? Doubtful. Foreign airlines' flights that allow voice calls average just five or six calls per flight, with an average duration of a couple of minutes per call. Are opponents making too much noise about the issue? Could be.

Let's see: Now we have a powerful Congressman telling passengers to keep their personal lives to themselves as one of his arguments against in-flight voice calls. Passengers on European, Asian, Middle Eastern and Latin American Airlines have been making in-flight voice calls for years, and without major flareups.

The controversy about in-flight voice calls on U.S. airlines may be overstated. Foreign airlines have been allowing it for years, and there hasn't been a huge problem. Most passengers prefer texting and email anyway.

Maybe the country is more ready for in-flight calls -- or just doesn't care one way or the other -- than the protests would have you believe.

Any adoption of the proposal that the FCC will consider is by no means assured since the Satellite Industry Association has powerful backers with much clout in Washington.

The FCC is pushing the FAA to act faster regarding use of in-flight electronics, and this is yet the latest shove to get the aviation administration moving.