“Please turn off all electronic devices during takeoff and landing”... Soon this annoying phrase will cease to be heard on board aircraft registered in the European Union. The European Union Aviation Safety Agency has adopted new rules according to which passengers can use electronic devices operating in offline mode, i.e., without sending or receiving radio signals, throughout the entire flight.
Thus, the use of not only cameras, players, and e-books, but also tablet computers and smartphones with a “flight mode” function is permitted. The agency's next step will be to allow the use of radio signals, whether mobile communications, Bluetooth, or Wi-Fi. However, passengers will only be able to stay online on new-generation aircraft equipped with a special safety system.
At the same time, airlines will always be able to refuse passengers this right, and cabin crew can check whether offline mode is enabled on older-generation devices—old laptops and mobile phones. However, the agency emphasizes that it is physically impossible to check all devices, and passengers are solely responsible for any negative consequences associated with the use of electronic devices that transmit radio signals. In other words, a mobile phone operating in normal mode is still considered a threat to flight safety.
Despite the changes in the rules, now, as before, passengers' safety is formally threatened by their own neighbors. It is this fact that draws the most criticism from observers: the uncertainty in assessing risks and their sources leads either to a complete disregard of safety instructions or to total paranoia.
“The saddest part of this story is that people stop listening to the cabin crew and simply don’t believe what they say,” writes British publicist Lionel Drikot. “Do you really think that a person who is asked to turn off their smartphone goes into the menu and waits for the phone to shut down? No, they just turn off the screen and look around with a sarcastic smile.”
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