Cellphone Use Could Be Cleared for Takeoff

The Federal Communications Commission on Wednesday took the first small step toward allowing passengers to use their cellular phones and other wireless devices on airliners.

The proposal faces a long list of regulatory and technological -- not to mention etiquette -- challenges. It may take several years and several hundred million dollars before denizens of the middle seat can ask friends on the ground, "Can you hear me now?"

But the FCC and the Federal Aviation Administration are cracking the cabin door on one of the few places where the electronic chirps that often portend uncomfortably intimate conversations still fall silent.

Reaction to the idea was as conflicted as most people's relationship with their mobile phones.

"We're entering uncharted territory here," said Jack Evans, president of the Air Transport Assn. of America Inc., an airline trade group. "Everyone can relate to a concern about sitting next to someone who decides to go through their little black book and call everyone they know in that high-pitched tone that people do when they're talking on their cellphone.

"On the other hand," Evans added, "people might be able to use that service to conduct business, and some people might like to have the security of knowing they can be reached in the air if there's an emergency."

Even those who might benefit most, the purveyors of mobile phones, acknowledge that the skies might not seem so friendly if half of coach is racking up roaming charges.

"We were just talking the other day about whether this was something we really wanted," said John Walls, a spokesman for the Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Assn., which represents the wireless industry. "I mean, would you want to be sandwiched between two yakkers on a trip from L.A. to New York?"

Maybe not. But given the degree of connectedness exhibited at Los Angeles International Airport, the idea of using cellphones on planes has a certain feeling of inevitability.

Some travelers scrambled to their gates Wednesday with headphone wires dangling over suit coats. Others passed the time tapping on laptops or chatting on flip phones at the curb.

"I travel a lot and it would be a lot cheaper than using the phones on the plane," said Sema Basol, a Manhattan Beach-based marketing consultant for nonprofits, as she tucked her cellphone into her carry-on luggage at bustling Terminal 1.