The FAA ruling just came out that says that airlines are allowed to expand the list of allowable electronics for use from take-off to landing. This list will include such things as tablets, e-readers, games, phones, etc. Passengers will still not be allowed to use their phones for voice calls while in the air, but everything else is a huge relief for most flyers!
I can’t tell you how silly the ban has continued to feel as electronics continue to advance. For example, you are not allowed to use a Kindle during take-off or landing – except the difference between change the state of the electronically charged particles to turn pages versus leaving it in the “off” position (on the screensaver) is such a minute amount of power that it doesn’t make sense to ban. Now that smartwatches are coming out, they would be allowed to be in their on state but not tablets which are not using any thing different in the form of wireless communication than a smartwatch.
So, good for the FAA allowing the change! They estimate that the change will be in full effect by the end of the year, so you can continue reading that good book on your e-reader or finishing your movie while you circle the NYC metro area for landing! Hopefully, we will begin to see it allowed on most airlines sooner than the end of the year estimate.
