U.S. air passengers get electronic devices go-ahead

PanARMENIAN.Net - Airline passengers in the U.S. will be able to use their electronic devices gate-to-gate to read, work, play games, watch films and listen to music - but not talk on their mobiles - under new guidelines issued on Thursday, October 31, according to Belfast Telegraph.

But passengers shouldn't expect changes to happen immediately. How fast the change is implemented will vary by the airline, U.S. Federal Aviation Administration official Michael Huerta said at a news conference.

Airlines will have to show the FAA how their planes meet the new guidelines and that they've updating their flight crew training manuals and rules for stowing devices to reflect the new guidelines. Delta said it was submitting a plan to implement the new policy.

Currently, passengers are required to turn off their smartphones, tablets and other devices once a plane's door closes.

They're not supposed to restart them until the planes reach 10,000 feet and the captain gives the go-ahead. Passengers are supposed to turn their devices off again as the plane descends to land and not restart them until the plane is on the ground.

Under the new guidelines, airlines whose planes are properly protected from electronic interference may allow passengers to use the devices during take-offs, landings and taxiing, the FAA said. Most new airliners and other planes that have been modified so that passengers can use Wifi at higher altitudes are expected to meet the criteria.

But connecting to the internet to surf, exchange emails, text or download data will still be banned below 10,000 ft (3,000 metres), the agency said. Passengers will be told to switch their smartphones, tablets and other devices to aircraft mode.

So, still no Words With Friends, the online Scrabble-type game that actor Alec Baldwin was playing on his smartphone in 2011 when he was famously booted off an American Airlines jet for refusing to turn off the device while the plane was parked at the gate. And heavier devices such as laptops will continue to have to be stowed because of concern they might injure someone if they go flying around the cabin.

In-flight mobile phone calls also will continue to be prohibited. Regulatory authority over phone calls belongs to the Federal Communications Commission, not the FAA. The communications commission prohibits the calls because of concern that phones on planes flying at hundreds of miles per hour could strain the ability of cellular networks to keep up as the devices keep trying to connect with mobile phone towers, interfering with service to users on the ground.