If air travel seems annoying now, imagine what it could be like if the government lets passengers use cell phones during flights, freeing strangers to gab loudly about their personal lives or business deals as they already do on buses, sidewalks and just about everywhere else.

Two government agencies, the Federal Communications Commission and the Federal Aviation Administration, are considering whether to lift long-standing bans on in-flight cell phone use -- a move flight attendants and others strongly oppose.

Yesterday, the Association of Flight Attendants, along with the National Consumers League, released a survey backing their claims that many prefer the relative calm of a cell phone-free environment in the air.

A hired pollster, Lauer Research, interviewed 702 air travelers -- a mix of frequent and occasional fliers -- and found that 63 percent of them wanted to keep existing cell phone restrictions in place; only 23 percent said it was time to lift the ban.

The negative responses rose to 80 percent when airline customers were asked questions that dealt with passenger "air rage," emergency communications, the possible use of cell phones as a coordination tool by terrorists and concerns of interference with navigational equipment.

"We know that cell phone chatter in public places can be annoying. Just think about being confined in an aluminum tube several thousand feet above the ground with no place to go to get away from the person behind and in front of you," AFA President Pat Friend said.

Valerie Walker, a United Airlines flight attendant and union safety chair, said even the little-used and expensive back-of-the-seat phones available on some aircraft can be annoying to passengers and crew.

In the event the cell phone ban is lifted, 90 percent of the air travelers surveyed said airlines should install systems that allow the flight crew to instantly disconnect all cell phones during safety and emergency announcements.

Friend said the 46,000 flight attendants she represents at various airlines would end up being the police in the air if passengers, already stressed over long-security lines and other travel frustrations, would get rowdy over cell phone behavior.

That concern is shared by other flight attendant unions. Tom McDaniel, president of the flight attendants group at Southwest Airlines, said passengers on cell phones ignored direction.

"Once a customer turns on a cell phone, the flight attendant loses their attention immediately,'' he said yesterday.

Susan Grant, vice president of public policy for the National Consumers Union, said surveyed fliers were concerned about safety and the ability of flight crews to maintain order -- and by the annoyances of ring tones and unwanted conversations that affect their quality of life.

"The airplane is one of the few places you can go to have some quiet time whether you want to just read ... watch a movie, or even if you want to just sit and think," Grant said. "If we lose that, I'm afraid there will be no place to hide from the aggravation of having to listen to unwanted conversation and information from other people."

But concerns of passenger aggravation won't mean much to the FCC or the FAA. Both agencies say their primary concerns do not include policing people's behavior, although the FAA would be concerned if a passenger failed to comply with a directive from a crew member.

The FCC is basically looking at whether technology has improved to the point that the use of cell phones in flight will not interfere with wireless communications on the ground.

In December the FCC called for public comment on the cell phone issue and voted to auction off new spectrum that could be used to provide high-speed wireless Internet access. It has received about 4,500 public comments so far on the cell phone proposal, and has extended the public comment period from April 11 to May 16.

The FAA maintains it would have the final say as to whether cell phones could be used in flight even if the FCC were to remove its ban. The FAA worries about how cell phones might interfere with plane navigation and electrical systems.

Spokesman Les Dorr said current FAA regulations ban using any portable electronic devices, with some exceptions such as pacemakers and hearing aids, that could interfere with navigation or communication on the aircraft.

Passenger behavior is left up to the airline unless a passenger were to interfere with a crew member. "Our sole consideration is for the safe operation of the aircraft," Dorr said.

A few years ago the FAA and the airline industry-backed Air Transport Association commissioned a study into whether wireless communication devices such as hand-held computers, laptops and cell phones interfere with navigational equipment.

The study, being conducted by the nonprofit technical group RTCA, is still in progress. Dorr said not to expect any action from the FAA on the cell phone issue until that study is done, most likely early next year.

There are technical considerations too. Cell phones may not work if they are too high up in the air to reach a ground tower. Planes would have to be outfitted with special transmitters that could relay the signals back to ground.