The Air Line Pilots Association and Association

The Air Line Pilots Association and Association of Flight Attendants-CWA also criticized the policy of relying on passenger compliance in low-visibility situations. Veda Shook,alligator shear head of the flight attendants union, said she was concerned that during low-visibility landings, a heightened-risk scenario, it would be difficult to get fliers to turn off their devices after they become accustomed to having them turned on.Ms. Shook said attendants are also displeased with the FAA's decision to allow fliers to hold smaller devices during takeoffs and landings. "We have concerns that in some kind of emergency, those devices would be whipping through the cabin and causing injury," she said.

The pilots union said, "We urge passengers to realize the potential seriousness of using a device at a time when any crew member―pilot or flight attendant―has advised them that it is unsafe to do so."Under the previous blanket ban on devices, attendants knew any activated device violated the rules. Under the new system, devices can be turned on but they must be in airplane mode―a difficult discrepancy to distinguish from the aisle, Ms. Shook said. The FAA said on its website that it expects attendants to inform passengers of the rules alligator shear, but that it knows "flight attendants cannot know when a device is ON and in airplane mode or not." An FAA spokeswoman said there is minimal safety concern from devices with cell connections switched on.

Device makers pushed for the new policy, and Amazon tested an airplane full of its Kindle e-readers to show that there were no interference issues. Amazon reiterated Thursday that the new policy is "a big win for customers."Not all fliers are enthusiastic about using their devices throughout flights, though. For some, flying is a rare respite from the constancy of electronic communication. In the federal advisory committee's report,skin analyzer a survey showed that 34% of business travelers said being able to use electronic devices is very important―but the same percentage said it isn't at all important.

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