EDITORIAL: Federal aviation regulators may allow more in-flight passenger communications on airlines

Since 1991, the Federal Communications Commission has banned certain cellphone use on airplanes above 10,000 feet. But the rules don’t apply to all frequencies or cover communications made via Wi-Fi. So the Department of Transportation in December proposed new regulations that would allow passengers to use technology such as Skype or FaceTime while in flight as long as airlines provide travelers with information about their policies.

Passions run high over the issue. USA Today reported this week that the department received more than 7,000 responses, overwhelmingly negative, on the regulation.

“PLEEEEEEEEASE do not allow voice calls on airplanes!!” wrote one frequent flier from Illinois. She said it would be “pure hell on a plane in that confined space to have to listen to people’s inane conversations. I’m sure there would be fights!” A California commuter predicted that the proposal “would only lead to air rage among airline passengers. … Who wants to listen to another passenger’s idle cellphone conversation while you are trying to sleep, read or view a movie?!”

The response was similar in 2013 when the FCC announced plans to review the in-flight cell-phone ban. The agency eventually shelved that idea.

But given that there are no real safety issues in play here — Wi-Fi communications present no threat to the operation of the airplanes — why is the federal government involved, at all? Why aren’t industry actors free to set such policies for themselves based on feedback from customers and employees?

In fact, it’s unlikely that many airlines will relent on these restrictions even if the government alters current regulations. Flight attendants hate the idea of people chattering into their devices during flights and would likely rebel if management gave the green light to such calls. As USA Today points out, they cite concerns about “passengers ignoring safety briefings before flights, getting into fights over noise during flights and possibly organizing terrorist attacks.”

In December, both Southwest Airlines and Alaska Airlines told the Chicago Tribune that they had no plans to allow voice calls. A spokeswoman for Delta said the airline has opposed voice calls for several years. United and JetBlue already ban all voice calls.

Federal aviation bureaucrats are wasting their time on the matter. Ditch all regulations on cellphone use that aren’t directly related to safety and allow individual carriers to devise their own rules. If public reaction to the government’s current proposal is an accurate bellwether, the “can you hear me now” pests won’t soon be welcomed at 35,000 feet.