Apple Invades United Airlines, 23,000 Flight Attendants To Receive iPhone 6 Plus

As job perks go, the company phone is a longtime favorite. Next year, more than 23,000 United Airlines flight attendants will be wielding the iPhone 6 Plus, which may result in an improved customer experience and seems bound to result in some serious Angry Birds Go playtime. Attendants should have the new smartphones by the second quarter of 2015.


Flight attendants will likely use the smartphones to handle credit card transactions when travelers buy beverages and snacks. United Airlines has other customer-facing uses planned for the iPhone 6 Plus, but flight attendants will also use the phone for internal activities, like checking company email and accessing manuals. In fact, UA plans to replace the printed safety manual with a digital version for the iPhone.

United Airlines is also planning to develop tools for the iPhone 6 Plus that will help airline attendants report problems and request repairs, but it gave few details about whether they will be in the form of iOS apps or browser-based tools.

The airline stressed that the addition of the iPhone 6 Plus doesn’t mark the end of the iPad pilot it has been running since 2011. The company still uses iPads onboard and has recently upgraded to the iPad Air 2 as part of its plan to make its aircraft paperless.