Yes and no.

<http://www.house.gov/transportation/aviation/hearing/07-20-00/hatfield.html>:

  TREATMENT OF OTHER MOBILE COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES:

  As I said before, there is a wide range of portable electronic
  devices, including mobile phones, which emit RF energy. There are
  different types of mobile communications, including cellular,
  Personal Communication Services, Specialized Mobile Radio, and
  Air-Ground Communications that are capable of on-board, in-flight
  communications. However, FCC rules prohibit the use of Cellular
  phones on-board aircraft in-flight and restrict the use of
  Specialized Mobile Radio Communications when an aircraft is more than
  1.6 km above the earth’s service. FCC rules do not address airborne
  PCS communications and they permit the operation of specially
  designed air-ground devices, which I will discuss in a moment.

  It is important to note that, regardless of the different FCC
  requirements, pursuant to an FAA advisory, it is my understanding
  that commercial air carriers themselves prohibit the use of mobile
  phones onboard aircraft (e.g., cellular, PCS, SMR).

  [MORE]

<http://www.privateline.com/Cellbasics/cellphonesairlines.html>:

  Both the airline industry and the Federal Communications Commission
  ban the use of cell phones aboard commercial flights. ...

  Safety is the main concern, which Federal Aviation Administration
  officials say is reason enough for the ban. And there is plenty of
  anecdotal evidence, they argue, to strongly suggest that wireless
  devices can interfere with aircraft instruments.

  The FAA used the findings of the RTCA, an independent aeronautics
  adviser, to justify the ban, although it leaves enforcement up to the
  airlines. ...

  The FCC has its own cell-phone ban, but it has nothing to do with
  airplane safety. The FCC says signals emitted by phones in the air
  could occupy multiple cell towers on the ground and cause
  interference with calls on the ground. This interference might even
  allow analog cell phone users to listen to others' conversations on
  the ground.

  However, no study has been conducted to prove this. What's more, the
  ban does not extend to SprintPCS and AT&T wireless phones because of
  an FCC "oversight," according to a former FCC engineer.

  SprintPCS and AT&T wireless phones use a different frequency than
  other cell phones. The oversight might imply that a user of either
  phone could use them in flight, but most, if not all, airlines adhere
  to FAA guidelines and prohibit all mobile phones anyway.

  "You try to write the rules so that they cover everything," said Dale
  Hatfield, a former FCC engineer who is now telecommunications program
  director at the University of Colorado in Boulder. "Since the FAA has
  its own rules, there's not a lot of pressure to fix that."

  [MORE]

So it seems to be just oversight, and not something you should rely upon,
particularly in light of FAA regulations.

See also "GSM Applications for Airborne Platforms" (Masters Thesis), cached at
<http://makeashorterlink.com/?F1AF22EB5>

  6. Conclusions and Recommendations
 
  Existing GSM networks cannot support reliable general purpose
  communications from airborne platforms. However, better call
  completion rates were achieved at altitudes near 1,500ft AGL and at
  relative ground speeds below 100 miles per hour in areas where the
  cellular density (in terms of cell size) is low (i.e. large, widely
  spaced cells). Call completion rates, call duration, and voice
  quality, suggest that existing GSM networks might possibly support
  certain specialized applications that would operate within those
  limitations. Some military unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) based
  applications might fit within these guidelines. The conclusions also
  suggest that GSM networks might provide a means of emergency
  communications for general aviation pilots who have lost other forms
  of radio communications. No significant reliable communications are
  possible in areas where the cellular density is high, even at low
  altitudes and slow speeds.

  [MORE]

That would seem to debunk the notion that cellular is workable on commercial
airline flights except during takeoff and landing.

Please name a model of phone that Cingular sells that is upper band only.

I believe you will find that all of the phones offered are dual band, upper and
lower, and therefore covered.

True, but most airlines can and do, prohibit the use of mobile phones,
regardless of the transmitting frequency.

Furthermore, you know that the FCC simply failed to update their
regulations to cover the PCS and other bands.