Flight Attendants Fight to Reinstate Ban on Fliers’ Devices • Lawyers for Union Argue in Court That Federal Aviation Administration Notice Violates Rule on Stowing Items

The Wall Street Journal
By Jack Nicas
 
Updated Oct. 10, 2014 5:38 p.m. ET


Lawyers for the nation’s largest flight-attendant union argued in federal court Friday to effectively reinstate a government ban on the use of electronic devices during takeoffs and landings.

The Association of Flight Attendants-CWA is suing the Federal Aviation Administration, saying the agency notice last year that paved the way for fliers to use their devices throughout flights violated federal regulations that require passengers to stow all items during takeoffs and landings.

Justice Department lawyers representing the FAA say the agency’s guidance, which permitted fliers to keep smaller devices in their hands during all phases of flight, doesn’t violate the stowage rule because small devices aren’t governed by it. The two sides argued the case Friday to a three-judge panel with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.

In October 2013, the FAA made it easier for airlines to prove that the in-flight use of electronics is safe for their aircraft. Within months, the FAA approved virtually all big U.S. airlines to allow passengers to use mobile phones, tablets and e-readers—with the cellular signal switched off—during takeoffs and landings.

Attorney Amanda Duré, who is representing the attendants union, said that since the policy change, many fliers have stopped listening to attendants’ emergency announcements and, in at least one incident, a tablet became a projectile during turbulence. The union also is concerned the devices could impede passengers’ exit from an aircraft during an emergency.

“Essentially we want to set the reset button to the way personal electronic devices were handled prior to October 2013,” Ms. Duré said. Takeoffs and landings “are the two most critical phases of flight with the most chance of turbulence and accidents.” Ms. Duré added that the union would be comfortable with a policy that allows devices to remain turned on during takeoffs and landings—as long as they are stowed away.

The union filed its lawsuit in late December, but the petition didn’t become public until an Associated Press report Friday.

The FAA declined to comment.

The flight attendants’ legal argument hinges partly on how the FAA’s policy change was enacted. The union says the change required a formal rule-making process, while Justice Department lawyers say the agency only needed to issue guidance, as it did.

The FAA recommended that during takeoffs and landings, airlines require passengers to generally stow larger devices, while allowing them to hold smaller devices. That guidance doesn’t violate federal rules on luggage stowage, the Justice Department lawyers said. “Not every single item carried onto a plane (e.g., a cell phone, a book, a pack of gum) necessarily constitutes an ‘article of baggage’ that must be ‘stowed’ under the seat or in an overhead compartment,” they said in a court filing. 

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