If you’re hailing from Canada, you might be pleased to learn that Canada has recently joined the US and the EU where they will allow passengers to use electronics at all stages of the flight. Previously this was not allowed as electronic devices had to be turned off before take off and landing, but now that the rule has been relaxed, passengers will be able to enjoy their electronics all the way.
According to Canada’s transport minister, Lisa Raitt, “We wouldn’t have approved this if we were concerned that it would affect either the safety of air travelers or of crews.” However there is a caveat in which passengers are only able to use their devices only if the airline they’re flying on has updated their safety manuals, and can also guarantee that during take off and landing that they are able to follow the flight crew’s instructions.
Unsurprisingly the use of mobile devices to place calls or to send/receive emails will not be allowed. We guess depending on the flight you’re traveling on, there could be in-flight WiFi that you could use if you had to go online, but those services are typically expensive and not worth it, unless you have urgent emails that you need to reply to.
Similar relaxation of the rules were applied to US flights by the FAA back in October 2013, and this was followed shortly after by EASA (Europe’s version the FAA) who relaxed the rules for European flights as well.
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