Speaking of phones...

We employ a car service to do airport runs. To save a few bucks, the driver will camp out off-airport and wait for you to land before approaching the terminal. This results in me having to play phone tag to tell him where I am specifically after I leave customs. Some drivers will call me beforehand and leave a voicemail. Other do not. In those cases, I must call the main number and find out who the driver is, and then call him, etc etc. Very frustrating, and non-sensical since they could bill us for parking charges anyway (and perhaps they do). And in bomb-shelter terminals like JFK, you can't even get a signal unless you schlep upstairs and outside to the Departure level.

At any rate, in order to facilitate the process, I switch on my phone after we stop at the gate and see if any messages are waiting. However, the barking nazis controlling the immigration queue jump on top of you if any beeping or other electronic noises eminate from your phone. They threaten everything from confiscating the phone to sending you to Gitmo I don't understand this rule. Is it another TSA-like random power trip or is there more to it?