anyone seen the new FA app?

Old Aug 19, 2015, 9:06 pm
  #16  
 
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Some of us do not like to be reminded we survived another year on UA.
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Old Aug 19, 2015, 9:21 pm
  #17  
 
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Originally Posted by Steve M
Back in the CO days, the flight manifest specifically did NOT show the fare class. The FA's had no way of knowing which passengers were award tickets, upgrades, discount fare, full fare, or whatever. I think they could tell a non-rev passenger. All that was listed was passenger name and OnePass elite level, but not fare class. So, based on elite level, they could tell in general how valuable a customer you were to the airline (to the extent the elite levels are accurate in measuring this), but it prevented things like a FA with an attitude against "free" travel giving a bad experience to a high-value passenger that happens to be on their once-a-year award trip with their family.
After the merger they added stars to the manifests, which was a UA thing. This is in addition to status.

I think 3 stars was GS, 2 stars paid first and 1K, and 1 star or no star everything else. It was meant to handle the pmua meal sorting drama.

So FAs have had a quasi way of seeing who didn't pay if you were below 1K.

Doubt many pay much attention to it. Not sure if it's still there.
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Old Aug 19, 2015, 10:44 pm
  #18  
 
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This app is called Link. Its not fully developed yet. Its still a prototype.

Flight attendants can view:
-Customer Names
-Birthdays MM/DD only
-Milestones for recognition
-Premier Status levels in Seatmap
-Customer flight itineraries
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Old Aug 19, 2015, 10:49 pm
  #19  
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This is the problem living in an "opt-out" world. It should ALWAYS be opt in, but companies won't allow such changes in laws in Congress.

United needs to allow customers the option of NOT having their personal information available to ANYONE who doesn't NEED it, which is just about anyone. FAs have NO REASON to have that information.

Originally Posted by schnitzer
This app is called Link. Its not fully developed yet. Its still a prototype.

Flight attendants can view:
-Customer Names - OK, but not necessary on an electronic device.
-Birthdays MM/DD only - NO NEED WHATSOEVER!
-Milestones for recognition - They have that on paper now, but don't use it
-Premier Status levels in Seatmap - Again, available on current paperwork
-Customer flight itineraries - Why? They don't hold flights for late passengers on UA flights, so what's the purpose?

Last edited by WineCountryUA; Aug 20, 2015 at 7:06 pm Reason: merging consecutive posts by same member -- please use multi-quote
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Old Aug 20, 2015, 8:29 am
  #20  
 
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It seems most of your complaint is that they "already have it on paperwork" and don't see it as UA trying to eliminate paperwork and make things more efficient.

I think birthday would be better listed if you are flying ON your birthday (ie. Together with milestones).

Regarding flight itens you've never been on a flight where they announce connecting flight info? I don't see the problem with giving more/better visibility to FAs. It would be nice if it was real time and could give updates on rebooking/IRROPS issues they could deliver to the pax. When I landed in NRT from SIN connecting to SFO-JFK if I didn't turn my phone on as we landed it would have been until I got in the lounge and that knowing there I was able to save my butt and snag one of the last J seats on NRT-EWR.

Information (given here) is not the enemy.
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Old Aug 20, 2015, 8:51 am
  #21  
 
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More interesting than the birthday angle is that UAL is training their onboard staff to be quasi res agents, rebooking flights for customers. On request? In IRROPS? With the company's track record of "training", this should be interesting.
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Old Aug 20, 2015, 8:57 am
  #22  
 
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Much ado about nothing. Anyone who has used the Internet for ordering anything has pretty much given away all of this information and more. Simply do.not.care.
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Old Aug 20, 2015, 8:59 am
  #23  
 
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Originally Posted by tuolumne
More interesting than the birthday angle is that UAL is training their onboard staff to be quasi res agents, rebooking flights for customers. On request? In IRROPS? With the company's track record of "training", this should be interesting.
I'd be surprised if this is true, I think the article is a little confusing because it focuses on flight attendants. I suspect the same app will be used by some of the roaming CS folks, like the ones you see at ORD sometimes.
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Old Aug 20, 2015, 9:09 am
  #24  
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Originally Posted by PsiFighter37
Much ado about nothing. Anyone who has used the Internet for ordering anything has pretty much given away all of this information and more. Simply do.not.care.
Which is why identity theft, computer fraud and theft, and other computer crimes continue to skyrocket. People. Do. Not. Care. It's too inconvenient in their "busy" lives.

Which says a lot about us.
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Old Aug 20, 2015, 9:28 am
  #25  
 
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Originally Posted by NewportGuy
Which is why identity theft, computer fraud and theft, and other computer crimes continue to skyrocket. People. Do. Not. Care. It's too inconvenient in their "busy" lives.

Which says a lot about us.
I don't think the issue is that people don't care that the sites they want to do business with have their personal information. Rather, the problem is a combination of super poor password hygiene (using "grandmom12345" as your password on every site you visit, from supercutekitties.com to your bank) and sophisticated phishing schemes.
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Old Aug 20, 2015, 9:31 am
  #26  
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No news here. United keeps personal data about you. That's it. Now they have it to hand. Woo-hoo.
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Old Aug 20, 2015, 9:33 am
  #27  
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Originally Posted by NewportGuy
Which is why identity theft, computer fraud and theft, and other computer crimes continue to skyrocket. People. Do. Not. Care. It's too inconvenient in their "busy" lives.
Pray tell how would FA access to MM/DD birthdays and city/state (as noted on your OP account) lead to identity theft? One needs the year and the actual address to do anything else.

Based on the specifics that the FAs know, this provides no concern for this traveler. Actually, many here would also expect the join date of MP as well as "closeness" to MM be tracked.
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Old Aug 20, 2015, 9:36 am
  #28  
 
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Originally Posted by NewportGuy
Which is why identity theft, computer fraud and theft, and other computer crimes continue to skyrocket. People. Do. Not. Care. It's too inconvenient in their "busy" lives.

Which says a lot about us.
No, it's not that. I expect the companies that are taking the information to have the appropriate security in place to safeguard from hackers. I get the feeling that any 'outrage' is more about FAs having access to personal information, not out of any security concern. That is why I am indifferent to the outrage...theoretically, any worker at any company you have done business with could find this information (or more).
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Old Aug 20, 2015, 9:41 am
  #29  
 
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Originally Posted by JVPhoto
I think birthday would be better listed if you are flying ON your birthday (ie. Together with milestones).

Regarding flight itens you've never been on a flight where they announce connecting flight info? I don't see the problem with giving more/better visibility to FAs. It would be nice if it was real time and could give updates on rebooking/IRROPS issues they could deliver to the pax. When I landed in NRT from SIN connecting to SFO-JFK if I didn't turn my phone on as we landed it would have been until I got in the lounge and that knowing there I was able to save my butt and snag one of the last J seats on NRT-EWR.
Calm the worries..

Birthdays are only shown If it is on the day of travel, occurred yesterday, or will occur the day after the flight.
It will appear as Bday+1 for birthday tomorrow, Bday for birthday today, and Bday-1 for birthday yesterday .

To see a customers itinerary, you need to have an active live connection. At the moment, they can not rebook IRROPS. Once in the air, it uses cached data, onboard Wi-Fi doesn't work because company-issued devices are currently not able to bypass the customer pay firewall. But that will change in the future.

Last edited by schnitzer; Aug 20, 2015 at 9:49 am
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Old Aug 20, 2015, 9:50 am
  #30  
 
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Originally Posted by schnitzer
Once in the air, it uses cached data, onboard Wi-Fi doesn't work because company-issued devices are currently not able to bypass the customer pay firewall. But that will change in the future.
Well, that raises an interesting issue. Will FAs now be tempted to spend even more time playing with their phones in-flight once they have Internet access?
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