On Delta Airlines, you can track the flight status on their website. Other airlines may have something similar.
On all the phones I’ve had, airplane mode turns off cell and wifi radios while GPS continues to function. At least on my current phone, Bluetooth also continues to function. While in airplane mode, you can elect to turn wifi back on.
My last flight asked for airplane mode enabling but it was very obvious that at this point, it’s more of a suggestion and lots of people do not.
It’s also surprising to me. I thought “Airplane mode” has basically become its own thing, regardless of any actual airplane use. It’s just the button that quickly turns off all antennas, and then when turned off restores you back to where you were. I’ll use it occasionally to save power without having to manually go in and turn off each option or turn it back on afterwards.
But I’ve also never used an iOS device that was new enough it could get online.
I’m posting this with Airplane Mode enabled. WiFi is clearly still working.
Must be phone specific. My last three Google Pixel phones all disable cell & wifi by default on airplane mode. But, like I said, in airplane mode I can go in and enable wifi.
I see that iPhones by default turn off wifi and bluetooth when enabling airplane mode, but if you manually enable them, it remembers that setting in the future.
Wait - I misread. It just mentions it turns wifi and cell off. If you also turn Bluetooth off, it remembers that.
IME w Samsung Androids it’s similar.
On a fresh OOB phone activating airplane mode kills cellular, and Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. But you can then turn either or both of Wi-Fi & Bluetooth back on. And if you do that soon enough after activating airplane mode, the phone will remember your updates and henceforth activating airplane mode will turn off your cellular and set the other two however you did last time.
That probably wasn’t true 20 years ago when we all got our first slightly smart phones. But has been for a long time now.
Like others, I’m glad it disables wifi & cell since I typically do it when backpacking. With those radios off, my phone will last for several days and make it through a multi-night trip. Plus, even if I get occasional cell service at the top of a mountain peak, I DO NOT WANT TO GET EMAIL OR COMMUNICATIONS! Kinda defeats the purpose of those trips 
These days I rarely have Bluetooth on. I lost my favorite, noise cancelling earphones in the move, and now my phone has a headphone jack I use if I’m out walking or jogging. I don’t tend to listen to audio when in actual public, with others around. And I remain too concerned to use Bluetooth for bed listening since I don’t want to lose the little buggers, and it doesn’t seem to wake up the other sleepers with it on speaker.
I just hate how Android 13 (which I still use) got rid of having a separate wifi and data buttons, so I have to tap the Internet button and toggle off one or the other.
On a small tangent of airplanes and probably pointless passenger precautions.
I was recently riding on an A320 belonging to a Latin American carrier. We had a flight where we all got on at station 1, flew to station 2, lotta folks got off there then lots of other folks got on, then we all flew to station 3 and all debarked. And they had to refuel the plane at station 2 with about 50 people on board. So far so ordinary.
Their policy, which was vigorously enforced by the FAs, was that during the refueling operation, every passenger was to be seated, not standing to stretch, not using the lavs during the break between deboarding and boarding again. And no wearing of seatbelts. And no use of electronics whatsoever. Everything had to be off-off. No piddling airplane mode: off.
WTF? I vaguely remember similar restrictions from when I was a kid riding around in prop airliners. Of course nobody had personal electronics then. So it was stay in your seat.
Once we were released from the purgatory of no e-toys to occupy our short attention spans, I dug into my tablet’s archive of manuals from when I was working. Our [fueling with passengers aboard] policy as of when I retired: Nothing whatsoever out of the ordinary if we’re at a gate with a jetbridge or airstairs up to the boarding door. There is some escape slide folderol to go through if we’re fueling off gate, like just on a bare concrete ramp away from all buildings.
But this no electronic devices while fueling policy was buried in their manuals, perhaps required by the local government regulator, and by golly they have to follow it.
I recall that when cellphones were brand new inventions priced for fatcats there was concern, and some regs for awhile, about cellphone use at gas stations and your cellphone somehow causing your fuel vapors to ignite, blowing you and your car to smithereens.
That worry fell by the wayside a long time ago. But not this airline’s (or country’s) worry about cellphones igniting jet fuel somehow.
Go figure.
MythBusters tested that one a long time ago. TK;DW, it’s not hard to cause a gasoline fire with a static spark, but a cellphone won’t do it.
I like to take photos from my window seat in the airplane, and I use GPS to help me identify what I’m taking pictures of. It may lag from time to time, but it generally works on every flight.
Nice call out to “folderol”.
Hmmm… let’s see… shortness of breath, palpitating heartbeat, sweaty palms, claustrophobia, fuckwhatwazdatnoise?
yep… ‘airplane mode’ still a thing.
Years ago I was on some airline that charged for internet access but allowed free streaming videos from the onboard media server, as many airlines do nowadays. Except the streaming required installing a third party app, and if you didn’t have the app installed they would allow you to connect to the internet to download it. After installing the app I discovered I was still connected to the internet, and I had free full internet access for the rest of the flight.
I suspect they have now closed that loophole as well.
GPS has more sats north of the equator?
This was pre smart phone, but I took a GPS unit on commercial flights and had good reception. It did have an external antenna. It may have helped that it was an aviation focused unit (Lowrance Airmap 500)
I did ask the first time I used it, the pilot (or first officer) did look in a big book and OKed use.
Brian
I used to fly SW on routes with multiple stops where I stayed on but most people got off. Besides staying seated until after they did the count, no restrictions. They did mention that the galley door could be open and that kids should not go near it.
I wonder if that airline had some kind of issue once.
No. But depending on how far poleward you are, most of the satellites will be equatorward from where you are. Yes, they have full polar coverage too, but IIRC it’s sparser than the more equatorial planes.
Similar with a handheld Garmin in the pre we all have GPS days. I knew as a receiver-only running on two AA batteries it was extremely unlikely to interfere with anything, but the official rule was to ask, so I did. Most flight attendants where fine with it, or didn’t understand. I did occasionally get a no response, so then I just put it away.
The other passengers seemed to think it was a phone, if they thought anything at all.