Originally Posted by christep
Probably because they understood (as you clearly do not) that there is no chance of mobile phones causing any problems with fuel trucks. There has never ever been a single case of this; all the people on the apron are carrying radios and mobile phones all the time anyway - do you "go off" at them? I guess you are Australian - they are the most ludicrously backward in senseless regulations (and completely spurious justifications) in this field.
And perhaps that doesn't matter, Chris. Rules is rules and regardless of what could or could not happen as a result of using phones on the tarmac, the airline has told passengers to switch them off and that is what must be done.
We all know that phones have now been proven NOT to interfere with aircraft systems (though I do believe there is chance they still could) and most of our passengers now know this too as many airlines begin to allow them to be used during taxi, but the fact is that you must abide by the rules of the airline you're travelling with.
If we say TURN IT OFF, you TURN IT OFF. I don't want to hear "but American say it's OK". I don't give a sh1t to tell you the truth. My bosses, my Captain, my CSD and my Purser say that on this BA flight you can't use your phone and that's it. It goes off, or I take it (I have done in the past and I will do again in the future).