Electric shavers which obviously have on/off switch are allowed.
I gotta try shaving myself during takeoff.

I've never heard the "anything with an on/off switch" part of the directive - but then most of my flights are not in the USA. All I've heard is "Switch off all electronic devices." If they really want to enforce the rule, then your quoted addition makes sense, because I sometimes wonder how you define an "electronic device".

If a flashlight switched on could affect the plane, which I highly doubt, what about a heart pacemaker or an intra-cardiac defibrillator? Both of those transmit signals and cannot be switched off.

I've yet to see any reliable study that proves electronic devices affect flight safety and, like many, I think the rule is silly. However, I do usually comply with it. I just wish it made sense to me!

Me either. It's really radio / wi fi / cell based devices. Given today's devices that most people carry though, I think it's an effective generalization.

On a recent Qantas flight I noted that Furby's were not allowed at _ANY_ time (like cell phones). I don't know if it's because they have radio device or they're just darned annoying.

by and large i've ignored that behavior. but, there are situations where i wouldn't. i've been on flights that are on full auto-land, into CAT III situations. during such an event i'll ask the person to stop their usage and if that doesn't work i'll call the FA.

it always amazes me how cavalier people take air travel. you're in a tube that is traveling, at least, over 150MPH; you're hundreds if not thousands of feet above the ground; and, YOU think YOU are so important that YOU can't be disturbed from your electronic gratification. people are such twits at times...

Hey all,

Thanks for the replies -- seems the overwhelming thinking is I should mind my own business.

One thing to clarify, the question was posed not because the use of their device "annoys" me, but rather the what-if their device somehow actually DOES interfere with the navigation systems? In that case, it surely is my business as I'm on this plane with them!

Feel free to rip me for that line of thinking, but until the FAA says its safe to use electronic devices during takeoff/landing, it seems like all passengers have a say about the idiot still using their device.

It's up to the airlines to ensure their rules are followed. Do you speak up if someone doesn't fasten their seat belt? Are you going to pitch in to help off load luggage? Make sure everyone boards according to their zone?

Confrontation is best avoided. However, anyone attempting to impose on other passengers because they are a busybody pining for their high school hall monitor days deserves what they get.

In most things in life, I'm a stickler for the rules, even if I don't agree with them. But once in a while, a rule is so stupid, useless, countrproductive, or even dangerous, that I will violate it with impunity. The electronics rules while flying are one such example.

I put my phone in airplane mode, but not to protect the plane from deadly EM interference from that <1.4w output. I do it because leaving it on will drain the battery as it searches for signals, and because even if it worked perfectly, I don't want to make or receive calls while closed up in a metal tube with 136 other people.

But I do leave it on, so I can use the music player, and I also sometimes turn on my digital camera during takeoffs and landings.

As to tattling on others who leave their phones on - I have never done it, and would only consider doing it if the person was holding a phone conversation and bothering everyone around them.

Texting is usually silent. But some folks insist on leaving the click-click-click sound of their smartphone keyboards turned on, so when they send a text, it sounds like you've got a Predator in the seat next to you.

I only fly WN, and their standard spiel inclludes the line "anything with an on/off switch." Which is ignored, of course. And many who want to follow the directions are simply not aware enough of how smart phones work - they will put the device in silent mode or simply turn off the screen and think they're compliant.

WN also usually says something like "all the way off, not in airplane mode".

I've done it. I'll admit it.

On a flight a couple of weeks ago, I turned my phone on while we were still in the air (we were in final descent). Full story is we were running 2.5 hours late due to a combination weather/mechanical delay, everyone was panicking about connections to last flights of the night and not believing the flight attendant when she said it was very likely many of the connections were delayed too. So I turned my phone on and went to the airline's app to give everyone around me updates about their flights - including gates, whether there were other flights that could get them home that night, etc. It also meant that my phone was already up and running so I could call the second we were off the runway to get rebooked as I had missed my connection and there was less than 30 minutes until the last flight that had any chance of getting me to my ultimate destination the next day.

Oh and it was all done in full view of the flight attendant so tattling probably wouldn't have done you any good.

"what-if their device somehow actually DOES interfere with the navigation systems?"

i've yet to see any conclusive evidence either way. but, WHY would anyone take the risk until its deemed safe?

the "it only generates a few watts" reasoning is faulty. your phone may only generate a watt or two, but multiply that times 100? 200? 300? 400? 500? depending on the aircraft and its number of seats.

people are such twits...

Let me add my voice to the chorus of "MYOFB!"

With zero proven incidents of interference it is clearly beyond time to change this useless rule.

We know for a fact - it is absolutely proven - that swimming in the ocean is dangerous. It can be LETHAL. People die every year from drownings, boating/skiing accidents, and the ocasional shark attack. Dozens die in the US alone, every year, not to mention the thousands of injuries of all kinds, from lost limbs to jellyfish stings. All completely preventable, if only they refrained from swimming in the ocean.

Yet millions of people still swim in the ocean every year. They let their children swim in the ocean.

WHY would people take the risk, when they KNOW it's not safe?

Because danger is not a binary proposition. There is risk in every single action we take, but that risk is greater for some actions, and less for others. The less the danger, the more willing people are to risk it.

Leaving phones on in an airplane may not have been proven safe, but given the millions of flights since the cell phone era began, and the billions of people who have left their phones on during those flights, not to mention the billions of ground-based phone and tower signals that planes fly through every day, the risk - if it exists at all - is so incredibly miniscule that it's not worth talking about. And it's certainly not worth panicing when someone leaves their phone on during a flight. People are such twits...

Nothing is impossible, but by concentrating on the things that have a microscopic chance of harming you, you waste time, energy, and resources that would be far better spent protecting yourself from things that have a much higher chance of hurting you.

Just call the cops and let them handle it

After you learn about how many and how often people leave their phones on during flights, you may not have to worry as much about safety:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trave...ve-phones.html

Welcome to FT!

Alerting the FA is, by definition, not taking matters into your own hands. Telling them off, or worse, trying to seize the device yourself is taking matters into your own hands.

I've never been in a situation where it was worth telling the FA. Nothing wrong with doing that, although you're likely to be annoying the FA by doing it.

OTOH, don't try to "play cop."

A lot is learned about a person when you witness them turn his/her device off when the FA tells him/her, only to turn it back on once the FA is out of sight.