For the past 5 years or so, I have used a cheap bluetooth fold-able headset similar to this one on Amazon, on at least a couple of flights per week, mostly in Europe:


I am on my 3rd or 4th pair (due to loss, or failure). They are Chinese-made and sold under numerous brand names. They work really nicely, are pocket-sized, very comfortable, and practically disposable at the price!

Since the advent of gate2gate use of mobile devices, I am in the habit of using them from the moment I take my seat to when I get up at the other end.

I have never thought twice about whether this was OK, or not, with regard to regulations, until this week, when I was told by a Finnair flight attendant that bluetooth devices of any sort (headsets or mice) are not permitted at any time on board?!

In googling for the British Airways regulations on the subject, it seems that bluetooth headsets are NOT-permitted during taxi, take-off and landing, but are fine during cruise.

So now I am confused!!

Bluetooth has an effective range of 3-5m, so represents no threat to the flight deck instrumentation, unless I am in row 1!

Is it just Finnair being their usual Luddite selves (they were 2 years behind the rest of the major airlines in permitting gate2gate use of mobile devices), or is bluetooth generally frowned-upon, and I have just been lucky to fly under the radar on this for so long?

I've not been asked to turn off Bluetooth headsets on any airline; have used them on AA, US, UA, BA, VS, and WN. Including takeoff and landing.

Are you within 3-5 m of the aircraft cabin wall, or floor? Probably.

It's not just the gizmos up in the cockpit that may be subject to interference. There's cabling everywhere (overhead, below the floor, in the walls), as well as remote-mounted electronics (not in the walls, but sometimes below the floor). There are also critical components - things like the control surfaces - outside, potentially within a few meters of some seats.

While I suspect the chances of a bluetooth device interfering with some of these seems pretty remote, when you're sitting on a modern jetliner, you are pretty much surrounded by wires and devices that are carrying signals. Some may be a few meters away, others only centimeters. There's at least some potential for interference with any of them. How much potential? I dunno, I suspect it's extremely low - despite admonitions to always switch to airplane mode, you can be sure that there are tens of thousands of mobile devices that are not switched to airplane mode during critical flight operations every day, and planes don't seem to be crashing from that. But there's a lot of uncertainty. Seems to me that complying with the rules is not too much of a burden.