PluggedIn: Stow Luggage, Not Phones, While in Flight

[Monty Solomon]

By Lucas Grinsven

AMSTERDAM, April 13 (Reuters) - The next time a flight attendant asks
you to switch off that handheld computer phone, keep smiling -- and
pull out a copy of the latest plane safety guidelines.

Clever computer and handset makers offer an option called "flight
mode," which disables the radio. As a result, the British Civil
Aviation Authority has decided passengers in planes under its
jurisdiction should be allowed to use these portable devices as a
calendar or photo viewer because they do not interfere with the
electronic circuits and radio systems used by the pilots.

The CAA says airlines should let travelers write messages, read
documents and perform all other nonphone functions on phones that
double up as computers, just as they can now work on a laptop, play on
a GameBoy or listen to music on an iPod at cruising altitudes.

But some flight crews still fume when they spot a passenger toying
with a computer phone. Airlines from no-frills JetBlue (NASDAQ:JBLU)
to United <UALAQ.OB> and British Airways (LSE:BAY) have their crews
scanning the aisles for them.

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