A much better question, considering what is known about climate change due to the burning of carbon fuels, is: Should airplanes/jets be allowed to fly?

A distraction? Maybe the question should then be, should children be allowed on planes? Because I can tell you screaming babies and obnoxious children make up a much larger percentage of distractions on planes. Seriously people, there's no way you're going to eliminate distractions on a plane full of people crammed in like sardines. Put some headphones on or take some sleeping pills.

What a wonderful example of how the framing of a question can sway a persons opinion. I personally have grown use to the chatter of cell phone conversations. Plus not to mention that with the improving technologies, I notice a lot less of people raising their voices to be heard on the other end. Now I may not know how a cell phone will respond to the constant roar of the cabin, but I do know that for the most part people are aware of their noise levels and try their best to not disturb anyone. There are always exceptions, but still, lets not be overly dramatic about this. It's just one more step in the direction of technological advancement and in flight services.

Airplanes are simply public transportation. As public as libraries. People avoid cell phone use in libraries out of courtesy. The small, confined space of an airplane calls for avoiding cell phone use out of courtesy as well. Instead, simply unplug and enjoy the ride!

I would much rather listen to someone carry on a phone conversation than the obnoixsious mother who is screaming at her kids to shut up, or better yet, the kids themselves screaming and the parent that is ignoring them. Airlines need to creat a sound proof room in the back, and you know what, you want to fly with you kids, sit there and listen to them, I sure dont want to.

I'm a cellular technician, so I thought I'd put in my two cents...
First, on the safety issue, it's been pretty well concluded that the only phones that pose a threat of interference to electrical systems operate in the 800Mhz range. those are rare in America these days.
Second, if you're annoyed by phone use on a plane, your ire will be short lived. Antennas on cell towers are never parallel to the ground, there is always some degree of down tilt; every cell tower forms an "umbrella" of coverage. The coverage does not just blast off omnidirectionally into the atmosphere. Bottom line: phones won't work at altitude anyway. Once you're significantly above the towers, you'll have no signal. Phones installed on the planes use different frequencies and unidirectional antennas pointed at the ground.

No need for a ban, just some common sense company policies will do.

Why is a cell phone conversation more annoying than any other conversation? Should we ban all talking on planes?

To the person who said "we avoid cells in libraries" now there is a place where we DO avoid talking. I think cell phone use on planes is more like cell phone use on buses and trains, and I have never once in my life been bothered by either of those.

And to those of you complaining about children, I would like to remind you that you were a child once as well, so maybe a little tolerance is in order?

As someone with a serious flying phobia, one of the things that's put me off flying for years has been not being able to talk to friends and family who might be able to calm me down while I'm up there!

If they were to change the rules I really think it would help me in my quest to find my wings (not that we want to encourage polluting forms of transport of course, but I find it unlikely I'll ever find another way of crossing the Atlantic...

Ryan must not be used to Lloyd's polls by now. They're always like this.

John, thank you for your comment. I've always said that cellphones won't work at a plane's flying altitude. In fact, once I sneakily left my cellphone on during a flight just to see what would happen. Lo and behold, there was no signal, and the plane was able to fly and land safely. No worries.

Maybe we should all just not worry and unplug for a couple of hours. And give the kids a bit of Benadryl so they sleep and don't get uncomfortable. Then they won't cause a fuss.

For one thing, cellular devices are only good to about a mile up. Second, who can hear anything over the screaming babies and snoring?

I am really sick of surveys that feature questions that manipulate the audience. You may think the multiple choice answer "Yes, I annoy everyone on buses and in lineups already, why should planes be different?" is funny, but what it's doing is lending your own bias against cell phones to this poll. Is it so awfully hard to just ask a question straight? The results would certainly be more interesting that way.

(I am actually against the idea of talking on cell phones on an airplane, so I am against the way the question is framed, not the question itself)

Tough to answer a survey with answers like these.

I have never been on an airplane, but i think that people are on cell phones to much to begin with. I would think it would force people to relax and maybe take the time to get unstressed. I like what Kent said. Why haven't i heard much about airplanes and the emissions they give off? What makes airplanes any different from vehicles?