I'm in the air twice a week. Being able to communicate with the ground is what let Todd Beamer "roll". Being able to do my expenses and email on the plane would let me spend more time with my family. Yes, Americans are going to abuse the priviledge, but some of us can benefit from it.
Didn't Todd Beamer use a GTE airphone in the seatback, not his personal cell phone to make the call? Those are reasonable to have in place for an emergency. They don't receive calls (so no rings) and the calls are expensive enough ($4 to connect, $4 for the first minute) that most people don't use them.
I've only been on a plane a handful of times in my life (my last time was September 9, 2001 on my way back from NYC), but I can appreciate being trapped with an abundance of noise! I have a cell phone but I hate it, and my carrying one was with the provision that we dump our landline phone. THAT was a decision I've never regretted.
I am a very content rural-dweller. The loudest thing in the neighborhood is my neighbor's donkey, who "laughs" at the strangest times. I appreciate the "off" button on the TV, and we only have one of those.
I love my laptop precisely because it IS quiet. I can do things easily and conveniently, and the only noise is the tapping of the keys. I wouldn't trade it for the world.
Did Todd Beamer use his cell phone at 10,000 feet? or the airphone?
Inquiring minds want to know, cuz cell phone towers radiate and orient EMF laterally, not vertically.
Neither of these are loud and obnoxious as cell phones. (Though I admit....doing expense reports IS obnoxious to the doer!)