Blue tooth headphones on plane?

[stormer]

The headphone jack on my son’s iPad recently broke and we had to get him blue tooth headphones to use with it. This might be a silly question, but are blue tooth head phones allowed on the plane? Will they work during the flight?

 

[Disneycouple99]

Yes and yes.

 

[disneywlf]

Absolutely! I use them (JBLs I bought at Walmart) with my iPhone 7 Plus since I don't have a headphone jack. I used them when I went to Israel this past Summer on Birthright (program that allows Jews to go to Israel for very little thanks to philanthropists) when I flew on Delta to/from FLL-JFK and El Al Israel Airlines from Newark to Tel Aviv and then from Tel Aviv back to JFK. They worked perfectly and it was nice not to have the cord. Hope this helps .

 

[supersnoop]

Back in the old days, they were pretty strict about things like wireless mice. If you’re on a WiFi equipped plane, you should be okay above 10,000 feet, but I don’t think you should use Bluetooth gate-to-gate.

 

[sam_gordon]

Back in the old days, they were pretty strict about things like wireless mice. If you’re on a WiFi equipped plane, you should be okay above 10,000 feet, but I don’t think you should use Bluetooth gate-to-gate.

I don't think they were ever "pretty strict" about electronic devices. Even if they were, they aren't now. There are no instructions to keep devices turned off until above 10K feet. Feel free to use the headphones whenever you'd like.

 

[Barbanellie]

For what it's worth, my husband has been instructed not to use his bluetooth headphones (actually, the instructions were not to use bluetooth period) on our Air Canada Jazz flights between Quebec City and Montreal, and between QC and Toronto. Maybe it's because it's such a tiny plane? Our connecting flights on larger Air Canada flight did not have that restriction.

 

[stormer]

Thanks for the help, everyone.

 

[supersnoop]

I don't think they were ever "pretty strict" about electronic devices. Even if they were, they aren't now. There are no instructions to keep devices turned off until above 10K feet. Feel free to use the headphones whenever you'd like.

Delta’s published policy still states that WiFi is only allowed above 10,000 feet.

For what it's worth, my husband has been instructed not to use his bluetooth headphones (actually, the instructions were not to use bluetooth period) on our Air Canada Jazz flights between Quebec City and Montreal, and between QC and Toronto. Maybe it's because it's such a tiny plane? Our connecting flights on larger Air Canada flight did not have that restriction.

WiFi is only enabled on aircraft that have been modified and insulated to ensure that the wireless signal cannot interfer with the aircraft electronics. The small aircraft has most likely not been fitted with the equipment to allow in flight wireless operation.

 

[sam_gordon]

Delta’s published policy still states that WiFi is only allowed above 10,000 feet.

Well they only turn on their (delta's) wifi devices above 10K feet. If you have wifi turned on on the ground, you're not getting anywhere. They're not going seat to seat asking if you have your wifi radio on. That's why I'm saying they're not strict. It USED to be NO electronic devices could be turned on. I think that changed ~5 years ago.

 

[sponica]

Well they only turn on their (delta's) wifi devices above 10K feet. If you have wifi turned on on the ground, you're not getting anywhere. They're not going seat to seat asking if you have your wifi radio on. That's why I'm saying they're not strict. It USED to be NO electronic devices could be turned on. I think that changed ~5 years ago.

And I totally forgot to turn my phone off on one flight 10 years ago...and the plane didn't fall out of the sky.

 

[nkereina]

DH has used his bluetooth headphones on our last few Southwest flights from the start of the flight with no issue, and no one advising him to turn it off. The only issue he had was that they once died on him due to not being fully charged, so keep that in mind if you have a long flight or a long day of travel with layovers.

 

[AngiTN]

Back in the old days, they were pretty strict about things like wireless mice. If you’re on a WiFi equipped plane, you should be okay above 10,000 feet, but I don’t think you should use Bluetooth gate-to-gate.

DH and I both use our bluetooth headphones on Southwest, Delta and American from the time we board till the time we deplane (gate to gate) without incident. There are no warnings or announcements to not use bluetooth. Can't speak to other airlines but those 3 don't have issues or policies against it

 

[gillep]

DH and I both use our bluetooth headphones on Southwest, Delta and American from the time we board till the time we deplane (gate to gate) without incident. There are no warnings or announcements to not use bluetooth. Can't speak to other airlines but those 3 don't have issues or policies against it

In addition to the airlines noted above, there are also no policies against using Bluetooth gate to gate on United or Jet Blue.

 

[supersnoop]

Generally speaking, there are announcements to place you’re electronic devices in airplane mode. Does a Bluetooth headset have an “airplane mode?”

 

[supersnoop]

Looks like the FAA allowed airlines to allow Bluetooth devices on WiFi enabled planes in 2013.

https://www.faa.gov/news/press_releases/news_story.cfm?newsId=15254

 

[sam_gordon]

Generally speaking, there are announcements to place you’re electronic devices in airplane mode. Does a Bluetooth headset have an “airplane mode?”

No. Airplane mode turns off wifi and cellular signals. I don't know that it affects bluetooth.

Bottom line, feel free to use BT gate to gate.

 

[MikeOhio]

Looks like the FAA allowed airlines to allow Bluetooth devices on WiFi enabled planes in 2013.

https://www.faa.gov/news/press_releases/news_story.cfm?newsId=15254

No, re read the article. Nowhere does it say you can only use bluetooth devices on Wifi enabled planes.

You can freely use bluetooth headphones an all major US airlines from gate to gate whether or not the plane has Wifi.

 

[MinnieMSue]

I don't think they were ever "pretty strict" about electronic devices.

My daughter got yelled at by a flight attendant before takeoff because her Barbie doll that had a light up Cinderella dress and made a twinkling sound when you pushed a button accidentally activated. Not a device like a cell phone or anything. It was in the seat pocket and she must have hit the button somehow when she got the magazine out. Everyone around us was stunned by it. so some flight attendants were super strict about it to the point of crazy. But I agree plenty of people never turned off devices and probably everyone survived.

 

[supersnoop]

No, re read the article. Nowhere does it say you can only use bluetooth devices on Wifi enabled planes.

You can freely use bluetooth headphones an all major US airlines from gate to gate whether or not the plane has Wifi.

I may have skipped some steps or made some assumptions in there. The article states that the airline has to prove that the plane will not be affected by the electronic device. Generally, they’re going to do that by adding shielding to the plane’s electronics. That’s usually done when a plane is retrofitted for WiFi service. So, maybe I made to big of a leap in associating the two, but someone earlier did mention a restriction on a smaller, older plane. I’ve experienced different policies on planes that had not been fitted with WiFi, and it seems like a logical correlation to me.

 

[AngiTN]

Bluetooth must not bother plane electronics. We use them on both full size planes and on our local puddle jumper flights that have no wifi and can't even pull up to a jetway (where we use stairs right on to the runway and walk in to the terminal)
I can only guess it uses frequencies that the planes don't utilize.