Cosmo perhaps the news is: raising the awareness of pax (& poss pilots) to the potential problems caused by cellphones and other electronic equipment. Maybe some people will start to realise that the briefing is not just given because the pilot likes to exert their authority and has nothing better to do.
BIK it looks like you have ample explanations as to why
PA32 is entitled to brief this, even though it 'aint no airbus'. It isn't just the old analogue phones that interfere, but the digital ones too. OK, maybe the interference is only a noise over the radio, but as already pointed out this could lead to the potential problem of missing an important R/T instruction.
PA32, as for this annoying pax. It sounds like the only solution is to confiscate the phone until the end of the flight. I sympathise with your problem. I usually find that most people turn their phones off whilst I tell them to do it and at the same time, show them that I am turning my phone off too. This also stops me from forgetting to do just that! Yes, we all make mistakes :o
Unfortunately one pax had the same idea as her and decided, in their infinite wisdom, to turn the phone back on as we landed. This resulted in R/T interference, a missed taxi instruction at a fairly major/busy airport and caused a delay of approx 7mins, while I was forced to hold my position
On disembarkation I apologised about the delay, giving a full explanation as to why.
I can assure you, this pax was suitably embarrassed and did not do it again. Good, lesson learned then
