Starlink wifi is incredible. I first tried it more than three years ago while flying JSX. I’ve used it on Hawaiian Airlines and United. It’s quickly becoming the world standard because it’s not only lightning fast, but there’s really no latency. You’re in the sky connecting to low earth orbit satellites, and as a result it often works better than your high speed connection at home.
Delta is no doubt getting a really good deal from Amazon’s Leo competitor, which isn’t certified yet and still a question mark. But it means that so any other airlines, including United and Alaska and even Southwest, will be broadly equipped with better inflight internet than Delta has long before Delta even gets started. Assuming Leo works just as well, they’re planning to equip just half their fleet and won’t start until 2028.
But once everyone gets really fast inflight internet, the technological constraints to bandwidth melt away. We can all stream so much better and more consitently than the last generation of satellite internet, like ViaSat and Intelsat. Many more passengers will want to stream calls and conferences.
Qatar Airways allows this, and One Mile at a Time points out that British Airways will allow this too. That’s a good thing, and it makes me want to fly British Airways more. Most of you will disagree, but you are wrong.
The British Airways rule is actually the correct one: “please be considerate.”
- If you’re making a call, keep your voice low and use headphones.
- Please always use headphones when watching or listening to content on your device.
Here’s What U.S. Law Says About Inflight Calls And Conferencing
The FCC says at 47 C.F.R. § 22.925 that cell phone signals cannot be used inflight. That’s also supposed to extend to wifi calling. 49 U.S.C. § 41725 ordered the Secretary of Transportation to issue regulations prohibiting voice communications using a mobile communications device inflight (during scheduled passenger service). The law exempts on-duty pilots, flight attendants, and federal law enforcement. But as far as I can tell no rule was ever actually issued.
Even years later, DOT lists only its 2014 Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking and 2016 Notice of Proposed Rulemaking for this, and no final rule. Am I just misremembering and not finding it?
The DOT had proposed prohibiting voice communications regardless of whether the call is made on a commercial mobile carrier, wifi, or any other means. FCC rules do not cover wifi calling. So:
- Speaking using FaceTime, Zoom or Teams over onboard Wi-Fi is supposed to be made illegal, DOT proposed banning it, but no final rule appears to ever have been adopted. Airlines themselves generally ban it, though.
- Silent video conferencing – watching a videoconference – would not violate any government rule or proposed rule.
Inflight Calling Is Actually Fine
I want to take conference calls inflight all the time – where I’m just an observer, on mute, or even muted. 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.
- There are jerks. Those people stand out more. Jerks have all kinds of other behavioral issues, too.
- We shouldn’t make rules for everyone based on the jerks, we should address the jerks.
Numerous airlines around the world allow inflight cell phone use on board, and the parade of horribles many worry about never happened. And calls can be really important.
Amtrak lets people use cell phones with passengers confined closely together. People talk to each other on planes now and those around them hear it! Sometimes the conversations you hear are even interesting
Government Should Not Regulate This
The original FAA rule on cell phones inflight was about safety, not nuisance. Wifi is allowed at all times. Planes had seat back Airfones, and those were permitted. Speaking in the sky has never been banned.
Congress said to pass a rule against it because people broadly don’t like it. That’s what’s wrong with your preferences, taking away freedom from others who haven’t even done anything wrong. Being an annoying jerk is a problem.
Being a polite listener on a zoom call, speaking softly isn’t a problem either. This shouldn’t be a matter of law. Airlines should be able to set their own rules, and I know 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.
It’s Time To Allow Inflight Calls
Last night I flew from Washington National airport to Dallas – Fort Worth to Austin. My first flight took a mechanical delay and I missed my connection. We had one of those 16 minute taxis after landing in Dallas, and I had to get from the mid-A gates to low B-gates. I made it prior to departure but after doors close, and the gate agents were already gone.
I figured I wasn’t going to make it, but I decided to sprint anyway – after all American says they’ll sometimes hold flights now for connecting passengers. That seemed a long shot here, because it wasn’t the last flight of the night. But I really did want to make it to Austin on my original flight because it meant I’d make it home while my daughter was still awake.
That wasn’t going to happen, but it would have been nice to actually tell her goodnight right as she went to bed. Fortunately, she was still up during my extended layover, but often that’s not the case. There are real human connection moments that can happen when people are allowed to speak.
Here’s an example where a woman might have been able to stop her husband’s suicide if flight crew hadn’t prevented her from making a call. We used to be allowed to use Airfones for this, but it was expensive. Now that it’s so much less costly we don’t allow it. And that’s a shame. Does anyone out there agree with me?
Inflight call zone – put it right where the smoking section used to be
I take MS teams calls in flight all the time on my headphones and no one even notices.
Given the incredible rudeness and lack of common sense among a great number of the flying public on flights today, that is a Hard NO!
@Barry Lieberman good for you, but you are not most people and most people would not be so considerate. I have ZERO interested in calls on planes. Is something is so important it can’t wait, don’t get on the plane.
The problem is we don’t address the jerks. Those of us who aren’t are often compelled to suffer in silence. Been to an airport, a grocery store, even a doc office lately? People are conversing on open speakerphone’s everywhere. Will this be worse for the Frontier and Spirit experience? Undoubtedly. But until flight crews show some backbone about enforcement of common courtesy, I’m not optimistic even on the quality airlines.
Flying is the same as driving. What looked like regular people turn into annoying idxxxs and forget all about other people (cutting you off, turn without signal, ….) why would you think people will be considerate.
People aren’t considerate…imagine the displeasure of listening to someone loudly explaining how important they are or sharing their vocabulary of obscene…
It is an opportunity for the same obnoxious people who insist on flooding the cabin with light on long daytime transatlantic flights…they’re out there.
Please, god, no. It’s one thing to passively listen to a call or a videoconference, but it’s another thing to speak. We know from everyday life that most people speak far louder into the phone than they actually need to. And how many people have we seen in the grocery store or on the bus who insist on using their phone on speaker (these people are rude, but it’s fun to start engaging in their conversation because, oh I’m sorry it was on speaker I thought it was a call for all of us). Flying has enough issues and enough bad behavior, we do not need to enable this too.
If there is a regulation on how (and who’s going) to deal with jerks, then maybe. But, “NO’ without those strict rules … which I have no idea what they would be or how to implement them, so probably “NO”. I do like the idea of back of the plane section for conference calls. Let them bother and interrupt each other.
Bad call, Gary. Allowing calls is a bad call. Pun intended.
@ Gary — You are wrong on this one. There are too many rude jerks to allow this.
In my business, we use RingCentral and I’ve had my phone ring a few times inflight (oops) and I’ve even been able to take a call once! FB Messenger & some Whatsapp calls have accidentally made it thru, and as someone else mentioned, Teams & Google Meetings seem to not be blocked (yet).
As much as my libertarian soul agrees with you, my frequent flyer side is like “HELL NO”. Can you imagine being on Spirit and hearing eveyrone’s phone calls? The American public is sadly not polite or courteous, by any means, and I think this will just become one, huge insulated phone booth.
Not only no, but NO WAY IN HE** no! Are people so lazy, stupid, and addicted to their STUPID UN-SMART phones they cannot make a simple several hour flight without using them? You do NOT NEED to stream, talk or use that infernal phone. Just sit calmly, read, take a nap. Docwhst NORMAL INTELLIGENT people have done for eons. There should be no WiFi service, period, on any flight less than 5 hours. And only available in the business/first class area for over 5 hours, providing said airplanes have a solid partition, including a door, between that area and general flight seating areas.
No. This is a wretched idea. FA’s already can’t control passengers. Phone calls already destroy club lounge experiences, now you want them to wake you up mid-flight? No thanks.
Get your own room and sure you can make a call. The seat next to me isn’t a conference room
It’s my emotional support phone you bigots. I can use it any time I want and anyway I want. If you don’t like my loud voice while I’m zooming that’s YOUR problem. Your feelings mean nothing – don’t you understand it’s all about MEEEEEE.
Let people make/take calls inflight? Are you fuc*ing nuts? Can you imagine having 100 plus people screaming into a cell with no headphones? I’m hopeful that no US domestic airline is dumb enough to allow such a thing. Can you imagine a Spirit and Frontier flight? Every third flight would be diverted.
In listen only mode to a Teams Calls yeah no one knows. Screaming to Jethro or Tyschaca that you’re an airport plane everyone would know.
Well, if you ever wanted to totally discredit your “Thought Leader in Travel” claim, Gary, you’ve certainly done it. This is one of the most thoughtless posts I’ve ever read about air travel. It’s guaranteed to displease and inconvenience far more travelers than it will benefit. It will be exploited by the rudest among us. It will lead to lots of disputes about passengers talking too loud and too long. And it will put extra burdens on the poor FAs who have to police rude passengers’ misconduct and those resulting disputes.
Just a lousy idea all around.
The reason you can’t make calls is that the previous FAA reauthorization had a clause in there as a result of lobbying by the flight attendants Union to a few senators.
It is a ridiculous law and I saw that the most recent reauthorization didn’t mention this so I’m wondering if it’s even valid anymore.
As for those that think it will disturb them, there are plenty of other things that can annoy you such as people talking loudly to other passengers or to flight attendants, or distracting different movies showing on every screen. Nobody here complaining about loud calls mentions the fact that you can make calls when the plane lands and nobody seems to be complaining about that, as they didn’t when planes used to have phones.
April fools?
“We shouldn’t make rules for everyone based on the jerks, we should address the jerks.”
And how would you address them?
How do you enforce being considerate?
I’m a hard no.
@Melissa — I sure hope that’s all this is… *facepalm*
@Gene — I think Gary does the ole “Marriott’s giving credits for not flushing/saving water” bit each April Fools, but is this a new one?
Please no I’m flight phone calls. People are already not considerate in public spaces – speaker phone etc. It would be chaotic if we let people make phone calls. Remember the term cell yell? That also still exists
I don’t want calls allowed.
I am considerate, as are the majority of passengers regardless of how often they fly, but the ones who aren’t will be a problem until a (mostly) foolproof solution ensuring calls do not disturb your neighbors as found. And like other kinds of disturbances most of them would be infrequent fliers who haven’t yet acquired the ettiquette/lore of being a commercial passenger, and are more likely to take offense when approached about their volume.
“…as long as people are considerate.”
Good one, Gary!