Anachronism?

Do any GingerSnaps out there watch Brothers and Sisters on ABC? Tonight, Robert McAllister (Rob Lowe) had to go to the middle east, leaving wife Kitty Walker McAlister (Calista Flockhart) at home to worry about life, family, adoption, blah blah blah. But the part that I questioned was the phone conversations that Robert and Kitty had while Robert was flying back and forth. He sat in his seat on the airplane and talked on his regular cell phone. Can that really happen? I have to admit that when the stewardess tells Miss Ginger to turn off her Blackberry, she never does, but it doesn't get a signal up that high anyway. Isn't the plane flying way above the level where a cell phone signal is oriented? Just wondering....