Originally Posted by
bocastephen
in the past I had some really proactive crews who contacted the flight deck and had them pull and reset the circuit breaker for the wifi system to force a hard reset which usually did the trick
We are not allowed to pull/reset circuit breakers inflight unless directed to do so by a non-normal checklist.
On the 737 we have a switch which will depower the internet/wifi/PDE system. That's what we use to reset when part of the system isn't working (usually the internet). Unfortunately, there is no way to reset just the internet without also resetting the wifi and PDE so a reset means everything will be done for seven or eight minutes while it reboots.
I believe that the F/As have the ability to reset the system themselves on the Airbus but I don't know the details. All fleets should have a way to do this without pulling any circuit breakers.
The F/As don't really have a way to monitor the aircraft's position to know when we're overwater or otherwise outside the CONUS coverage area. If they're ambitious, they can check it on their Link on the UA App but that will only work while the internet is working. Geography knowledge isn't really a requirement for their job, though, so some will be a lot better than others at understanding when the internet will, and will not, work.