yes!

I doubt that anything would happen to a plane if I left my phone on, but I still turn out it in airplane mode. Why tempt it and it does save battery.

What worries me more than whether phones are in airplane mode, is people checking suitcases with lithium-ion batteries. I don’t know if everyone knows about this danger and the warning/inquiry when you check your bag isn’t the most effective- often it’s communicated in very broken English.

Anonymous wrote:I always switch my phone to airplane mode and pester my teenage daughters to do the same. Once I forgot and we were in some significant turbulence- flight crew strapped in, the plane kept doing those stomach lurching drops and was even shuddering. My daughters’s phone suddenly started blasting a super loud amber alert and someone started yelling “ Oh my god it’s a warning! It’s a warning!” I had to yell out it was a cell phone amber alert and all I could hear behind me was “ it’s ok it’s ok it’s ok we’ll all be ok.”

Today’s installment of things that didn’t happen.

I always switch my phone to airplane mode and pester my teenage daughters to do the same. Once I forgot and we were in some significant turbulence- flight crew strapped in, the plane kept doing those stomach lurching drops and was even shuddering. My daughters’s phone suddenly started blasting a super loud amber alert and someone started yelling “ Oh my god it’s a warning! It’s a warning!” I had to yell out it was a cell phone amber alert and all I could hear behind me was “ it’s ok it’s ok it’s ok we’ll all be ok.”

I always turn everything either off or to Airplane Mode. EMI is a real issue for avionics. Maybe a small few devices accidentally left on will not cause issues in a modern airplane, but a plane full of people with all their devices on certainly can.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes. I once saw a special about it how a lot of 'trying to connect' signals messed with their onboard systems and caused glitching. Might have changed since then with newer mobile phones, but why take the chance to mess with the airplanes' system? They ask you to put it in airplane mode on every airline in the world. Why not do this one easy safety thing?

Good lord. If this was even remotely possible, the airlines would still require you to completely power down your phone.

Some of you are ridiculous.

Why are you entitled not to follow the rules?

Because no one enforces them. That lack of enforcement means that (i) no one cares, and (ii) the real-world consequences of not following them (in other words, somehow interfering with the plane) do not exist.

And to be clear, I never said I don't use airplane mode. If I remember, I do. But I often don't, and it doesn't bother me a bit. I was talking about how ridiculous people are who think there actually could be an impact on the plane.

But a lot of rules are only sporadically enforced; that doesn't mean you shouldn't follow them. The odds of being caught cheating on your taxes are pretty low, but I still try to make sure my returns are accurate. This airplane rule obviously has virtually nonexistent stakes, so it's not the same thing, but I don't really see the point of deliberately not doing something the airlines and the government have indicated they expect you to do — when it takes no effort and comes with no cost — just because you've decided you know better.

Some people get power trips from breaking rules. Whatever turns their crank.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Engineer here. You should shut off or use airplane mode. Otherwise, your phone is going to constantly try to ping cellphone towers as you fly by them at 500mph and that's a huge battery drain (when doing an initial ping, it uses more battery power then once a connection is established).

+100

Unfortunately there's at least one poster here who seems insistent on perpetuating lies to the contrary.

Airplane mode saves phone's battery life.

You are really quite dense. That is not the issue at all. The airlines/FAA do not have this "rule" in order to save travelers' battery life. There is a purported safety reason for the rule, but one that is quite obviously fabricated, with no real consequences for failure to comply (either to the plane or the traveler). That is what people mean when they say that it makes no difference.

PP never claimed that the airlines/FAA have this "rule" to save battery life. They were merely responding to the inaccurate claim by PP that turning on airplane mode serves no purpose.

The two are different issues, both are being discussed in this thread.