Politics & Government

FAA Allows Most Electronic Devices Throughout Flights

Soon there will be no need to stop using your favorite app (or to pretend to stop using it) as your airplane takes off: the Federal Aviation Administration announced Thursday that airlines "can safely expand passenger use of Portable Electronic Devices (PEDs) during all phases of flight."

"Each airline will determine how and when this will happen," FAA administrator Michael Huerta said Thursday morning.

The easing of restrictions applies to many uses of smartphones, but not to calls themselves. A ban on calls is still in effect.

This will come as a relief to a nation of increasingly smartphone- and Kindle-obsessed travelers, who were banned from using their devices in the takeoff and landing portions of flights in the decade since the September 11 attacks.


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