Senators introduce bill to ban calls on flights

A bipartisan pair of senators introduced a bill on Wednesday that would make it illegal to talk on the phone during a flight.

The legislation, called the Commercial Flight Courtesy Act, would direct the secretary of Transportation to ban phone calls by passengers during commercial flights.

“Passengers chatting on their mobile devices in the small confines of an airplane could make flying even less comfortable,” said Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), who introduced the bill with Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.).

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“Passengers should not have to suffer through the conversations of others, and flight crews should not be disrupted while performing their important safety and security duties,” Markey added in a statement.

The Democratic lawmaker added that he will try to get the bill added to the Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization bill that’s currently being considered.

The cellphone bill would make exceptions for aircraft crew members and law enforcement officials and would still allow for text messaging and other uses of mobile devices.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai in April killed a long-defunct proposal to allow airlines to enable phone calls on flights.