Some airlines in the middle east, Europe, and Asia allow phones with (of course) no issues [1]. Let's hope sanity prevails here, but I'm not holding my breath.

Some airlines in the middle east, Europe, and Asia allow phones with (of course) no issues [1]. Let's hope sanity prevails here, but I'm not holding my breath. I'm sure this rule started out as a prudent idea when electronic devices were rare. Once in place, a rule like this is almost impossible to remove. Any bureaucrat is afraid to revoke the rule because he runs a risk of being blamed for some crash some day. It's not even irrational, given how randomly causes get assigned. It's maddening and ludicrous and not surprising at all. If the rule had never existed, the people defending the rule would never even think to have it implemented. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_phones_on_aircraft http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_phones_on_aircraft