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Flight attendants sue FAA over in-flight device usage rules
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MacNN Staff
Join Date: Jul 2012
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Flight attendants are challenging a decision made by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) last year, over the use of electronic devices by passengers at all stages of flight. The Association of Flight Attendants-CWA has sued the FAA over the matter, claiming the change makes flights inherently more dangerous because passengers may not fully understand the safety announcements.
Lawyers for the attendants claim the FAA should have informed the public over the possible changes and asked for comment before making a decision, reports the Wall Street Journal. The use of smartphones and other gadgets at take-off are also apparently distracting passengers during the pre-flight announcements, and so are not equipped to deal with an emergency situation. Lastly, it is suggested that during turbulence or more severe scenarios, the smartphones, tablets, and other equipment will turn into projectiles, potentially causing damage or injury to other passengers or the plane itself.
The FAA's legal team deny the accusations, noting that the FCC asked for responses from the public, receiving around a thousand comments in the process, though the ultimate decision about in-flight devices lies with the individual airlines. The projectiles argument is also suggested to be misguided, as the same issue arises for other items commonly used in flight, such as books.
While the question about managing a passenger's attention during the safety briefing is important and left unanswered, lawyers for the attendants have suggested a compromise on the current rules: Passengers will be able to keep their devices switched on at take-off and landing, but must still stow the item away during these times.
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Last edited by NewsPoster; Oct 13, 2014 at 11:24 AM.
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Junior Member
Join Date: Aug 2001
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It says a lot about our society that people cannot put down their phones, iPads, laptops for 20 minutes when a plane is preparing for lift off and landing. I agree with the pro's that fly for a living, they know better than the occasional traveler.
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Fresh-Faced Recruit
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I too think that this is an example of a regulator being 'captured' by the industry it is supposed to be regulating. The FAA should be putting safety first .... not airline profits / convenience.
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Dedicated MacNNer
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News Flash! Passengers have been ignoring Flight Attendants for 80 years. In the pst, they read newspapers and pocket books and those items weren't ever banned. As a licensed multi-engine instrument rated commercial pilot, I have studied a few air crashes and the flight attendants are almost practically useless in controlling the pandemonium that ensues a minor mishap and in the event of a major crash, no one is alive. Emergency water landings are rarely survivable and again, the flight attendants also perish.
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Fresh-Faced Recruit
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I frequently fly and have no use for the safety briefing.
How many times do I need to be shown how to buckle my seat belt, raise my table and seat, how to put on a mask, spot the exit and put on a vest?
If in an exit row, the flight attendant does give additional instructions and I would expect the passenger to pause what they are doing during that short briefing.
I have had numerous situations where the plane closes the door (which means all electronics off) and wait up to 2 hours before actually taking off. Would have liked to be using my idevice during that extended wait.
As pointed out in the article, the airline has the final say on whether electronics can be used. The FAA only gives the ok.
bdog
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Junior Member
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Set of silly arguments. First and foremost the Airlines can set policy, they just can't hide behind FAA regulations. The problem with takeoff and landing is the presumed 10,000 ft ceiling for transition is way too long and on shorter flights leaves no time for device use.
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Junior Member
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If the window for stowing devices (and books) was from, say, 2nd in line for takeoff to "wheels up" and final descent to off the runway and onto the taxiway, that would be reasonable. (At least JetBlue allows cell phone use once on the ground). This would eliminate any extended delays.
(It still puzzles me why safety announcements don't come through the airplane headphone jacks on most airlines)
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Fresh-Faced Recruit
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Arguing that it is oK because the regulator leaves it up to airlines to decide ... reminds me of the absolute failure of regulation that resulted in the shooting down of MH17 over Ukraine. The airlines say that the regulator allowed them to fly over a war zone (the regulator did) ... and the regulator says they did not close the air space (even though it was a war zone) but left it up to individual airlines to make their own decisions. That didn't end up very well, did it?
Regulators should do their job and put safety first ... just last week, they found that the monitor displays in many planes go wonky when wi-fi is active during take-off. Not good.
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Grizzled Veteran
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Don't get this. It's not like I am flying a plane while talking on my cel phone at the same time.
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Junior Member
Join Date: Feb 1999
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Perhaps it would be helpful if the announcements were a bit briefer and to the point: e.g. "Close your eyes, now many rows forwards or backwards to the exit row? Yeah, thought you didn't pay attention." Most of the stuff about fastening seat belts and oxygen masks would be more quickly dealt with by asking for the person who *doesn't* know how to fasten their belt to raise their hand. Some pieces of information change quickly (i.e. per flight) and so could be usefully reinforced, but many others change not-at-all and so can be taken as read in most cases (and people will probably forget them in an accident anyway).
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