Survey Explores Airplane Cell Phone Etiquette

Image courtesy of All Home Connections.

When the flight attendant asks you to put your phone on airplane mode during takeoff, what do you do? Follow instructions or keep on texting?

A new survey assessing cellphone habits and etiquette on commercial flights shows that most people comply, which is enough to keep flights on course and on time.

According to the survey, only one in 15 people don’t turn their phones off or to airplane mode when asked by flight attendants—men are about twice as likely to ignore instructions about turning off their phones than women.

Most people comply with the instructions because they worry keeping their phone on will negatively affect the flight—83% of respondents cited this reason for following instructions. But nearly one in three people thinks keeping their phone on could cause the cabin to lose pressure.

More commonly, people turn their phones off because they fear it will interfere with communication between the pilot and the ground, according to the survey results. This latter reason is the more likely negative effect cause by leaving your phone on.

Graphic courtesy of All Home Connections.

Graphic courtesy of All Home Connections.