United Airlines is making onboard purchases, accessing email and other internal information for flight attendants much easier by supplying their team of more than 23,000 with the Apple iPhone 6 Plus.
Flight attendants will be able access safety and service information starting as early as the second quarter of 2015.
The company can be noted as eager adopters of Apple’s technology. United was the first to provide iPads to pilots in the cockpit back in 2011, which the airline indicated it would be likely to renew in 2014 with iPad Air 2’s.
“We are thrilled to make this investment in our flight attendants,” says Sam Risoli, United Airlines 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.”
Soon flight attendants will be conduct majority of the onboard retail transactions, including food and drink purchases, with the iPhone 6 Plus. Additionally, they will be able to access company email, policies and procedure manuals, United.com and the company’s Intranet.
The airline also intends to expand and develop the functions of its iPhone 6 Plus deployment in the future. Some of the plans include replacing flight attendants’ printed safety manual with an electronic version, reporting issues in real-time, and improving follow-up on cabin repairs.
United is also eyeing a number of customer-focused tools for the iPhone. The United terminal at New Jersey’s Newark Liberty International Airport is under renovation, which includes upgrades like iPads for customer use. Currently, United Airlines extended iOS support to consumers with an official app update that provides free in-flight video content.
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