United Airlines announced yesterday it plans to provide over 23,000 of its flight attendants with an iPhone 6 Plus, allowing employees to access instant safety and service information.
Phones are set to be handed out in the second quarter of 2015 and will let flight attendants take care of onboard retail transactions, plus get access to company email, United’s Intranet and also manuals on policies and procedures. United believes these new iPhones will allow the company to “better serve our customers”, according to Sam Risoli, United’s senior vice president of inflight services.
Eventually printed safety manuals will be replaced with an electronic version accessible on their iPhone 6 Plus units, while real-time aircraft cabin issues and repairs will be reported directly onto the device.
United also announced it has renewed the iPad pilot program with newer iPad Air 2 models, part of the airline’s ongoing plan to have paperless aircrafts and flight decks.
At least with the iPhone 6 Plus, the longer battery life and larger screen size will make the device perfect for the skies. Surely though, paper copies of safety manuals should remain on board—what if these devices run out of battery?
