[cromulent]

> But how do you explain that to the traveling masses?

I think this has a lot to do with the whole "turn every device off" thing. Keeping aggravation levels down, with tired and stressed passengers, with a large mix of cultures and languages, means that it is much easier to say: everything must be turned off. Otherwise you get into 200 discussions about which devices are allowed, and you have to verify each one.

[wglb]

Each one of these devices is a radio transmitter. Even if it is a receiver, or dvd or HP200lx. They all transmit measurable signals. If two or more are on, this can result in the sum and difference of each pair of signals.

Thus verifying each one is not going to tell the whole story.