JetBlue and Delta Now Let Passengers Use Gadgets During Takeoff and Landing
Following the FAA's announcement on Thursday that it wouldn't be long …
Context & Ripple Effects
This lands almost exactly where the arc predicted: back in March 2013, NYT's Bits column flagged that the FAA was weighing an end to its takeoff-and-landing electronics ban, and the agency confirmed this week that airlines could certify their fleets for gate-to-gate device use. JetBlue and Delta moved within a day of the announcement — first movers in what is now an opt-in race rather than a regulatory question.
The pickup is unusually broad for a same-day policy story — Ars Technica, The Verge, USA Today, Mashable and others all carried it — which reflects how long passengers had been waiting for the rule to change. The FAA's green light converts a compliance burden into a customer-experience decision each airline now makes on its own timeline.
First-order effects
- Passengers flying JetBlue and Delta can keep phones, tablets and e-readers on from gate to gate starting now, ending the ritual shutdown before departure and after landing.
- Every other US carrier now faces an immediate expectation gap: until it completes the FAA's aircraft-by-aircraft review, its passengers are the ones powering down while rivals' cabins stay lit.
Second-order effects
- Airlines still under review are pressured to accelerate their certifications to close the experience gap with JetBlue and Delta, turning an FAA process into a marketing deadline.
- In-flight Wi-Fi and entertainment offerings become more valuable once they're usable through taxi, climb and descent — connectivity providers and content partners gain a longer billable window per flight.
Third-order effects
- If most carriers certify quickly, 'airplane mode' recedes as a category of air-travel friction, and onboard connectivity shifts from perk to baseline expectation that airlines compete on.
- The episode establishes the template of regulator-set frameworks with airline-level implementation — future cabin rules will likely be judged by how fast individual carriers opt in, not by whether the rule exists.
The trend: Airline electronics policy is shifting from a blanket FAA prohibition to carrier-by-carrier certification, making gate-to-gate connectivity a competitive differentiator in the cabin.