jmanca

Gawker "article"

davidviolin

have not seen it but from reading about it, seems nobody has any clue what actual info the FAs have. How wonderful!

transportbiz

Will hold off outrage till more is known for sure, but it does seems creepy and potential for alarming.

transportbiz

There is no question they have a clue, that they don't want to share the information indicates they have something to hide.

MSPeconomist

The Gawker "article" refers to the information as including passenger addresses (so that FAs can help people to rebook tickets???? this doesn't require an address). This would make me uncomfortable since I'm sure that there are some stalkers and other weird people out there among FAs.

hoopics

This comment from the Gawker comment section neatly sums up my views on this:

"'Hacks have been in the news a lot lately. Is there any way we could make the information our passengers give us less secure? A way to really just gift-wrap that {stuff}?'

-United Airlines executives"

JVPhoto

*yawn*

More people worried about simple info that they already have given out all over the internet over the past decade or two.

If you want to live off the grid...I don't know what to tell you in 2015.

P.S. I flew on my birthday NRT-SFO and I would have welcomed a happy birthday.

riphamilton

the united spokesperson referred to a FT thread to deflect the PII concerns.... we've come full circle, folks!

full link is: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unite...gnition-7.html

Doc Savage

BA has had their "Big Brother" iPads for a while. Strangely, some of the BA forum types seem to like having the FAs be able to see all this info....

JVPhoto

On my LX flight the MdC had an iPad that I saw him typing up some CS issues and working on because A) He had one to deal with regarding my Mom & I B) I was later peeking when waiting to go to the lav and he was working on it.

I would imagine it also has manifest info/data as well.

Duke787

Don't mind the birthday (have been ID'd once or twice in both F and Y in the past and wouldn't mind avoiding that) and it is a nice customer service touch (though it would be better if they actually did something with it like offer a complimentary drink if in Y).

What concerns me are the addresses and any potential information about how the passenger arrived in that seat (upgrade, award ticket, etc.). Ticket specific information opens up the possibility of biased service for example a flight attendant who doesn't like upgraders serving them last or not giving them full attention (when IMO FAs should be ticket agnostic and any bias should be by status to reward loyalty and that's it).

mduell

AFAIK they already have it on the docs in the galley (manifest and related).

cerealmarketer

Every airline agent you interact with has had access to the same info for years, decades.

Every hotel rep has the same info and more.

Our names, status, and those UA stars have been taped up in galleys forever for every lavatory user to see. Other airlines have shown even more info on manifests.

Heck aside from birthday my name and address is on every magazine and newspaper I leave behind.

Other than not wanting people to announce your birthday what is it about the company representative in flight knowing the same info every other airline rep sees that creeps people out?

I guess something about the small size of a cabin and close quarters with others, and having to be under this person's authority in those quarters.

Maybe it's the reverse of the same phenomena that makes some of us so excited about being served a meal on board. You rarely get someone serving you in such close quarters in a restaurant.

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.

tcp1

Friend is a FA, she told me she can see my birthday, status, itinerary, reservations, city and state. Found part of this out when she texted me that she just missed me in BOS this weekend.

I asked her about fare class and UG method, she said she "didn't think so" but the app was brand new to her so she'd have to poke around. I gave her permission to look at whatever she wanted about me - hopefully I'll get her on a flight so I can find exactly what they see.

She also told me different people have different accesses, but not sure what this means exactly. Will ask her next time I run into her.