The real danger of not using airplane mode while flying as a passenger on a plane
If you don't turn on airplane mode while flying, your plane won't fall out of the sky, but you might annoy the pilot.
Too many travelers believe that if they don't toggle on the airplane mode setting for their phone while flying, they are creating a potentially deadly situation. Once all passengers have been boarded and the aircraft doors are closed, every phone on board is supposed to have airplane mode enabled. With this setting turned on, the phone's radios are turned off, shutting down connectivity options such as cellular, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth. Some will tell you that this is done to prevent interference with the plane's navigational and communications systems.
Even though your plane won't fall out of the sky, there is a good reason to have airplane mode turned on while flying
Even if you have your phone in airplane mode, if the flight you're on offers Wi-Fi to passengers, you will be able to use it. Did you bring Bluetooth-powered personal earphones? You'll be able to use them as well. But there are differing opinions about what will happen if you fail to enable airplane mode while a passenger on a flight. According to Gary Coxe, a pilot and flight instructor who has logged 7,000 flight hours, if you forget to turn on airplane mode and you're on a flight, "Not a darn thing" will happen.
Turning on airplane mode on iOS 18. | Image credit-PhoneArena
A U.S. Army veteran who goes by the name PerchPoint on TikTok agrees that if you fail to turn on airplane mode, your phone is not going to fall out of the sky. However, there is the possibility that if only three or four passengers are trying to connect to a cellular network, the radio waves from these phones can interfere with the radio waves of the headsets being used in the cockpit for communications. PerchPoint compares the interference caused by passengers' phones to a mosquito's buzzing sound and calls it "annoying."
This could be a big deal if the weather or other issues are leaving a pilot with limited visibility. Under such a scenario, the pilot relies on information from the ground that is being relayed to him over his headset. So if interference from smartphones prevents the pilot from hearing instructions from the tower, the result could be catastrophic. The FAA says that cellphone use is only allowed in flight if it doesn't affect the safety or communications of a plane.
Back in 2013, the FCC decided that with the new technology available at the time, passengers could use their phones while flying as long as airplane mode was turned on. That same year, CNN reported that 33% of passengers it spoke with left a portable device on while on an airplane without any repercussions to all of the passengers, the crew, and the plane. CNN also found that from 2003-2009, there were only 29 cases when cellphones were suspected of causing interference on a flight.
Airline passengers in the U.K. and EU aren't required to put their phones in airplane mode while flying. Several airlines in Europe allow passengers to send texts and make calls during a flight because starting in June 2023, EU member airlines are forced to equip their planes with a "picocell." These are portable cell towers.
No airline passenger has ever been jailed for failing to turn his phone on airplane mode
Even though no one has ever been jailed for not following the rules regarding the use of airplane mode on airline flights, some passengers have been fined, and at least one was kicked off a plane for arguing with a flight attendant in 2018 about whether her phone was in airplane mode.
According to Travel + Leisure, even with the lack of evidence that smartphone interference will cause planes to crash, it is best just to enable airplane mode if you are asked to do so as a passenger. We suggest that to prepare for a flight, you should download in advance some movies or television shows to your phone. This way you can have some entertainment while flying even with airplane mode turned on. Think about all of the battery life you'll be saving with airplane mode shutting down the power-hungry radios on your device.
Not following the rules might not cause the plane you're on to fall out of the sky. But as we've pointed out, it could make things a little harder for the pilot under certain weather conditions. The last thing you want to do for the pilot whose skills you're counting on to get you safely on the ground is make it more difficult for him to do his job.
FCC OKs Cingular\'s purchase of AT&T Wireless
Things that are NOT allowed: