Jan. 18, 2026, 4:45 a.m. ET
These days, our cellphones have practically become an extension of ourselves.
From the moment we wake up to minutes before falling asleep, people are constantly reaching for, glancing at or fully immersed in the contents of their screens — from keeping up with loved ones, scrolling on social media, accessing news, managing daily tasks and even working.
So when people are forced to disconnect from Wi-Fi and switch on that airplane mode icon while flying hours at a time, some dread the idea of not being able to use their phones to their full extent, raising the question flyers have before takeoff: What happens if you don’t use airplane mode?
In the U.S., The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and Federal Communications Commission (FCC) restricts phone usage on civilian planes unless airplane mode is turned on, as the phone signals “could interfere with critical aircraft instruments.”
Back in 2013, the FCC allowed for safe phone use in airplane mode due to technological advancements from the time the regulations on in flight-cellphone use were first set back in 1991.
Insight from the experts
According to former pilot and aviation consultant Richard Levy in an interview with Snopes, “When the mobile device is operating during flight, it can ‘see’ multiple cell towers at the same time, thus blocking frequencies used by these towers because they are being hit with far more activity than they were designed to manage.”
Yet, Levy also added that in his forty-plus years as a pilot and fifty years of aviation experience, he never experienced interference at such levels — with modern aircrafts “well-tested to ensure minimal interference.”
Pilot and U.S. Army veteran that goes by PerchPoint on Tiktok stated that “Airplane mode is not a conspiracy,” in a viral video from 2024, stating that while phones don’t endanger aircrafts, only three or four passengers on a Boeing 737 actively seeking cellular networks can potentially interfere with cockpit headset communications.
Due to limited visibility, pilots rely heavily on these headsets to hear intel from the control tower — particularly important during takeoff and landing. While these cellphone radio waves won’t entirely disrupt communication, it can bring down the audio quality.
