
Cells in the air. While travelers are allowed to talk on their phones while on the ground, they're not allowed to make calls while flying. since the technology exists to allow it, the answer is more complex.

Early public cell phones. Airplanes once offered seatback handsets available to anyone with the swipe of a credit card for upwards of $4 or $5 per minute.

Busy in the air. Flight attendants already mediate arguments between passengers who want to recline their seats and people who want room for their legs or laptops (especially hard given how little room airlines provide).

Other reasons to fight. Flight attendants also deal with arguments between passengers about sitting together, overhead luggage, middle seat armrests and seat reclining.

Drinking and flying. Then there are the passengers who drink too much and act out at 30,000 feet.

Not one more thing. They don't want to police their passengers' social behaviors any more than they already do.

They're won before. Flight attendants led the charge against cigarettes in cabins, which ultimately led to full-fledged bans on in-flight smoking by 2000.

Younger adults don't call anyway. More people prefer to text these days over actually talking to people they know. By the time people can make calls in the air, it may be passe.


