WASHINGTON — As federal regulators consider removing a decades-old prohibition on making phone calls on planes, a majority of Americans who fly oppose such a change, a new Associated Press-GfK poll finds.
The Federal Communications Commission will officially start the debate Thursday, holding the first of several meetings to review the agency’s 22-year-old ban. New FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler has called the current rules “outdated and restrictive.”
The poll finds that 48 percent of Americans oppose allowing cellphones to be used for voice calls while flying; just 19 percent support it. Another 30 percent are neutral.
The opposition grows to 59 percent among Americans who have taken more than one flight in the past year and to 78 percent among those who’ve taken four or more flights.
