Access to porn on American Airlines flights raises alarm bells

A growing number of passengers are worried about the consequences of Wi-Fi internet access which will soon be made available on American Airlines flights and the possibility that some onboard these planes might use this new facility to view pornographic websites. Although the carrier has indicated that it has no intention to filter websites that feature inappropriate and adult content, American Airlines flight attendants are reportedly being “trained” to deal with passengers who may try to view offensive material on a flight.

The concern over porn access on flights stems from the fact that if someone’s seatmate is viewing such material, there is no way for anyone sitting next to or near him/her to avoid seeing this as well. This situation becomes especially problematic if there are children nearby, who may thus be exposed to adult content. Daniel Weiss, a representative of the conservative group “Focus on the Family,” noted that it is not fair to flight attendants if they find themselves in a situation in which they must handle a passenger who decides to view porn on the plane. Additionally, there are potential legal problems with viewing porn on a plane as well. If a passenger decides to watch adult content in an area where there are children nearby, he/she may actually contravene federal law which prohibits that adults expose kids to such material. While Continental Airlines will also allow passengers to use the internet on its planes, the rival carrier has decided to use filters in order to block adult material.

www.aa.com