Travel Questions: Tefillin in the Airport, Standing to Daven, Flying on Shabbos

Q. Is it common to see people doing Tefillin in an airport before flights?

Should I do Tefillin on a plane sitting down, or would it annoy some?

I know on [name of airline redacted], the old policy was people stood in the back for prayers, but I am not using [redacted]. My movement with Tefillin is to stand, but I feel it may annoy too many and could get me yelled at.

In an airport, Tefillin should be done where? Clearly not in the bathroom, but what safe area do you recommend?

A. I can't speak for every airport in the world, but I've put on tefillin in a good number of airports without incident. Nevertheless, I advise you to exercise good judgment in determining whether or not a given location is likely safe.

You can certainly put tefillin on in your seat; I see no reason why that should bother anyone.

While you might usually stand to put on tefillin (as one does), I happen to favor the opinion of Rav Moshe Feinstein ztz”l and others, who advise those davening on planes to remain in their seats. It's important not to impede the movements of the flight crew, nor to inconvenience other passengers.

If you choose to put on tefillin at the airport, I would assume that you would do so at the gate, where the passengers are sitting and waiting. (I usually go to an uncrowded area at the gate, assuming there is one.)

But again, I remind you of the saying that the fifth volume of Shulchan Aruch is common sense, so just use good judgment regarding your surroundings.

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Q. What is the policy for Jews flying, are we allowed to fly on Shabbat? I know the Talmud spoke about ships and Shabbat. It would be less stressful to land on Shabbat somewhere compared to staying an additional day at a hotel when money is limited. If one flies on Shabbat, what to do with the tefillin they carry as one can't touch it on Shabbat?

A. Thanks for your question. We don't fly on Shabbos. When taking a boat, one might leave on a Tuesday and arrive two weeks later on a Friday; spending Shabbos on the boat is not inherently problematic. The real problem comes with embarking and disembarking. There is no situation in which one is going to board an airplane sufficiently before Shabbos and not arrive until after Shabbos. You can read more about this here: Travel by Boat on Shabbat - The Concise Code: Hilchot Shabbat - OU Torah

If one somehow did find themselves flying on Shabbos, that wouldn't affect the laws of muktzah; they wouldn't be allowed to handle their tefillin, their laptop, their money, or any other muktzah they had on board with them.

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