Since I’m on the subject of travel, I never really bought the line that cell phones were a safety issue.  It didn’t make sense that the fields generated by the phones would be any worse than laptops or iPods.  If they were dangerous, why are we allowed to carry them on while surrendering our nail clippers and shaving cream? Via Ezra Klein: Why cell phones are still grounded.

Phones are banned for two official reasons:

1. Cell phones "might" interfere with the avionics (aviation electronics) of some airplanes.
2. Cell phones aloft "might" cause problems with cell tower systems on the ground.

Both of these risks are easily tested, yet somehow neither the
Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) nor the Federal Communications
Commission has been able to get a definitive answer in the past 20
years as to whether phone calls in flight cause these suspected
problems. (The FAA is responsible for the flight safety portion of all
this, and the FCC is responsible for the cell tower part.)

The government’s dirty little secret is that it cultivates
uncertainty about the effects of phones in airplanes as a way to
maintain the existing ban without having to confront the expense and
inconvenience to airlines and wireless carriers of allowing them.

Why airlines want the ban

The airlines fear "crowd control" problems if cell phones are
allowed in flights. They believe cell phone calls might promote rude
behavior and conflict between passengers, which flight attendants would
have to deal with. The airlines also benefit in general from passengers
remaining ignorant about what’s happening on the ground during flights,
including personal problems, terrorist attacks, plane crashes and other
information that might upset passengers.

One way to deal with callers bothering noncallers would be to
designate sections of each flight where calling is allowed — like a
"smoking section." But the ban is easier.

And this is just common sense:

Here’s another problem with the government’s abdication of responsibility on this question: Either phones and other gadgets can crash airplanes or they can’t. If they can, then we’ve got a serious problem on our hands, and airplanes need to be upgraded to protect the public safety.
What’s to stop terrorists from testing various gadgets, finding the ones with the highest levels of interferences, then turning on dozens of them at some crucial phase of flight, such as during a landing in bad weather?
If gadgets can’t crash planes, then the ban is costing billions of hours per year of lost productivity by business people who want to work in flight.