by BART JANSEN / USA TODAY

NWCN.com

Posted on February 17, 2014 at 12:14 PM

If cellphone calls are allowed on planes, flight attendants warn that safety lectures will be ignored more often and passengers will get into fights about noisy conversations.

"We cannot and will not be the 'cellphone police' on board as people yack loudly, in a confined space, without any concern for anyone else on board," said Russell Fuller, a flight attendant from Warrenton, Va.

He as among more than 1,000 people who have submitted comments to the Federal Communications Commission, which is considering lifting its 1991 ban on in-flight cellular service. Commissioners say the ban is no longer necessary because planes can carry their own cell towers, so they no longer interfere with ground-based communications.

A 30-day comment period ended Friday, and replies to the comments are due by March 17. So far comments are heavily opposed to allowing calls, although hundreds of respondents said they could live with silent text messages and Internet service for phones.

Even if the FCC lifts its ban, Congress is debating a legislative prohibition to voice calls. The Transportation Department would have to decide what service to allow on planes, and then airlines could decide whether to offer it.

But flight attendants, who would face the brunt of whatever is approved, are vocally against allowing calls. The Association of Flight Attendants with 60,000 members and the Association of Professional Flight Attendants with 16,000 members each opposed the FCC move.

"A plane full of people talking on cellphones is the stuff of nightmares," said Laura Glading, the APFA president.

Excerpt from:

Flight attendants want plane call ban to remain