Katie Marsal
United Airlines on Wednesday announced that it will equip more than 23,000 flight attendants with Apple's iPhone 6 Plus next year, allowing them to handle onboard transactions as well as accessing company email and other internal information.
Safety and service information will be available to United Airlines flight attendants with the iPhone 6 Plus, once distribution begins in the second quarter of 2015. The airline was also among the first to begin deploying iPads to pilots in the cockpit in 2011, and has renewed that plan for the iPad Air 2 this year.
"We are thrilled to make this investment in our flight attendants," said Sam Risoli, United's senior vice president of inflight services. "iPhone 6 Plus will enable them to deliver an even higher level of flyer-friendly service and will offer our flight attendants simple, one-touch access to valuable work information, enabling them to better serve our customers."
At launch, flight attendants will be able to handle most onboard retail transactions with the iPhone 6 Plus, and will also be allowed to access company email, united.com, and the company's Intranet, as well as policies and procedures manuals.
United Airlines plans to expand the functions of its iPhone 6 Plus deployment over time, including replacing flight attendants' printed safety manual with an electronic version, as well as providing real-time reporting and improved follow-up on aircraft cabin issues and repairs. United is also planning to develop a number of customer-focused tools for the device.
In addition to equipping its flight attendants and pilots with Apple hardware, United Airlines has also extended support to customers with iOS devices, launching an update to its official app earlier this year to provide passengers with free in-flight video content.
AppleInsider Staff
Andrew Orr
Amber Neely
William Gallagher
Christine McKee
46 Comments
The iP6 will more more of an "iPad Mini Killer" than anything. I'm loving my iP6+ and I use my iPad even less since I got it. Only time I use it now is as an eBook reader - which it is perfect for, but too big for anything else. Great move United Airlines!!
Cool. Now let's get those devices in the hands of every airline employee.
This is outrageous! There are cheaper options available than this overpriced toy! What was United thinking when they made this boneheaded decision? This definitely means higher priced tickets for the flying public. Like the iPad deal for the LAUSD this should be investigated and stopped by the shareholders. Galaxy Notes would be a much better choice, cheaper, and not locked down.
Wait for it...
lmao I was going to post something similar. Beaten, yet again. +1
This is outrageous! There are cheaper options available than this overpriced toy! What was United thinking when they made this boneheaded decision? This definitely means higher priced tickets for the flying public. Like the iPad deal for the LAUSD this should be investigated and stopped by the shareholders. Galaxy Notes would be a much better choice, cheaper, and not locked down.
Wait for it...
Ikrupp...would you like a tissue? Perhaps I can send you one. Crap....I'll send you a whole box seeing that Apple is having a monster Q4!!
How's Scamsung doing? Yeah, not too good, huh? Big management shake-up, monster loss in revenue, no new products to copy. That's too bad. Hang in there.