Two in 3 fliers say keep cell phones off, survey finds

NEW YORK (Reuters Life!) - Two in three airline travelers have a message for their fellow fliers -- turn that cell phone off and keep it off.

With the technology becoming available to make cell phone use mid-flight possible, market research company Maritz Research conducted a survey to test the attitude of U.S. airline passengers to using cell phones in the air.

The survey found 57 percent of 1,020 Americans who have flown in the past six months thought allowing cell phone use during flights was a bad thing while 27 percent thought it would be good. The rest, 16 percent, did not have an opinion.

Maritz Research spokesman Rick Garlick said women were more opposed to the use of cell phones on planes with only one in five thinking it would be good to permit cell phone usage compared to one in three men backing a change in the rules.

The age group most likely to favor cell phones on planes was the 25-35 year-old band of whom 32 percent backed their usage.

"But every single group we polled did not favor cell phone use by a large margin," Garlick told Reuters.

"We're confident in our numbers that it wouldn't be a good thing to allow them. There is a certain etiquette that people are very sensitive to with cell phones and even if it was permissible, people do not think it is something they would like. It's almost voyeuristic having someone next to you making calls."

St. Louis-based Maritz said the margin of error for the poll was plus or minus three percent.