On March 26, the Global Business Travel Association filed comments on the Department of Transportation’s Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) Use of Mobile Wireless Devices for Voice Calls on Aircraft.
Reflecting feedback from across GBTA membership, which encompasses every aspect of the business travel industry, the comments state the use of mobile wireless devices for voice is detrimental to business travelers and should be banned between the time the aircraft door is closed and the aircraft lands.
In a statement, GBTA Executive Director and COO Michael W. McCormick cited the late musician Pete Seeger: “There is a time to speak out and a time to keep silent. Under its authority to ban unfair practices, DOT should choose the latter approach and ban mobile wireless voice calls during flight on aircraft.”
“Additionally, in such a confined space, there is no reasonable way to provide quiet areas on aircrafts to reduce the harm of loud cellphone conversations. Unlike Amtrak’s ‘quiet cars,’ GBTA does not believe it is feasible to create talk-free sections of aircraft. DOT should not add to business traveler’s misery. On commercial aircraft in the United States, silence is golden.”
