Occasional Inflight iMessages Received (but didn't pay for access)
Nov 5, 2017, 10:11 am
#61
Join Date: May 2003
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In the 737, I have two wifi/internet related switches in the cockpit. One removes power from the system and can be used to reset. The other controls the system which disables the satellite transmitter when below 10,000'. DirecTV airplanes has one additional switch which controls power to that system.
Nov 5, 2017, 10:39 am
#62
Join Date: Feb 2002
Location: BNA
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I once saw a great picture, I think it was on Facebook. It showed a galley where the cart had come out and tipped over. It was a huge mess. The caption read, "After twenty minutes, the First Officer gave up on making coffee!"
Nov 5, 2017, 11:17 am
#63
Original Poster
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LOL This is why I asked on the empty shuttle/positioning flights if there is 1 FA staffed to take care of the food/bev/service for the cockpit crew.
Jan 16, 2018, 8:01 am
#65
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: NYC
Programs: UA 1K, SPG Platinum, UA Million Miler
Posts: 2,596
Are text messages enabled on UA Wifi when you don't pay?
I few EWR-LAS last week on a 738/739 and for once chose not to do any work on the plane. My phone automatically connects to the wifi and to my surprise text messages (iMessage) are streaming in the whole flight. Is this new?
Jan 16, 2018, 8:04 am
#66
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: MFR
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That would be fantastic. Delta has that now.
Jan 16, 2018, 8:16 am
#68
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: PDX
Programs: United MP (Platinum), AS (75K), AA (GM)
Posts: 223
I've had iMessage and some push notifications come though on several flights. I'm thinking it's a technical oversight to not block certain ports that those services use. I wouldn't depend on it. 
Jan 16, 2018, 8:20 am
#69
Join Date: Jan 2016
Programs: UA 1K; *G, AA Plat
Posts: 1,700
Yep. technical oversight. There's another thread out there stating that UA had been blocking the ports that allow these notifications and messages to come through in Q4 2017. However, in my 4 flights of 2018 so far, all have appeared to allow free Imessage/notifications.
Jan 16, 2018, 8:43 am
#70
Used to be MBS PremExec
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I'm not the tech-iest guy in the world, but like someone mentions below, it has to do with leaving open whatever 'port' iMessage uses, therefore not requiring one to pay for that port to be open. My hypothesis is that the port is the same one used by UA for their handheld in-flight devices (also an Apple product). You'll notice it is indeed only iMessage, Androids don't work, neither do other messaging apps like Facebook Messenger.
Jan 16, 2018, 8:53 am
#71
Join Date: May 2013
Location: New York
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iOS devices employ captive portal detection, if they get on wifi and they can't get a specific page from a specific apple host (and that page has a certain value), then it pops up the sign into wifi screen. If the user hits cancel without resolving the issue (which would require paying for internet), the default behavior is to disconnect from the wifi network. This would be a big usability kludge for the people that just wanted to use portable device entertainment.
The easiest fix for this would be to permit traffic on port 80 (plain HTTP) and 443 (HTTPS) to *.apple.com hosts (anything dot apple.com), this would allow the user to connect to the United_wifi hotspot without getting a sign in prompt (if all they wanted to do was use the United app for travel or entertainment). They could try to whitelist specific hosts under Apple.com, but then if Apple changes them in an iOS update you would get the captive portal prompt on your iPhone/iPad until a software update was rolled out to all of the hotspots on planes.
A *.apple.com whitelist would automatically allow iMessage to work, since iMessage will fallback to port 443 on wifi if port 5223 isn't working.
The easiest fix for this would be to permit traffic on port 80 (plain HTTP) and 443 (HTTPS) to *.apple.com hosts (anything dot apple.com), this would allow the user to connect to the United_wifi hotspot without getting a sign in prompt (if all they wanted to do was use the United app for travel or entertainment). They could try to whitelist specific hosts under Apple.com, but then if Apple changes them in an iOS update you would get the captive portal prompt on your iPhone/iPad until a software update was rolled out to all of the hotspots on planes.
A *.apple.com whitelist would automatically allow iMessage to work, since iMessage will fallback to port 443 on wifi if port 5223 isn't working.
Jan 16, 2018, 9:01 am
#72
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As I posted over in this thread...
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unit...ay-access.html
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unit...ay-access.html
I discovered this completely by accident PBI-EWR (737)* this past May with my iPhone in airplane mode, wifi on and sound off. I was charging my iPhone with it sitting on my thigh and while dozing in and out of sleep, my phone vibrated with an iMessage from goalie-mom 
telling me they might be a few minutes late picking me up after my connecting flight EWR-SFO. goalie-mom and I "chatted" throughout the flight and I also had a "conversation" with another f/t'er as well**
*goalie-mom's first message came thru shortly after we reached 10,000 feet when wifi was turned on and the conversations we had continued thru cruising altitude until we reached 10,000 feet on descent when wifi was turned off
**complete with the fat fingered messages being sent to goalie-mom instead of a f/t'er and vice versa
telling me they might be a few minutes late picking me up after my connecting flight EWR-SFO. goalie-mom and I "chatted" throughout the flight and I also had a "conversation" with another f/t'er as well***goalie-mom's first message came thru shortly after we reached 10,000 feet when wifi was turned on and the conversations we had continued thru cruising altitude until we reached 10,000 feet on descent when wifi was turned off
**complete with the fat fingered messages being sent to goalie-mom instead of a f/t'er and vice versa
Jan 16, 2018, 10:02 am
#75
Join Date: Feb 2002
Location: BNA
Programs: HH Gold. (Former) UA PP, DL PM, PC Plat
Posts: 8,185
I've never seen it documented as a supported feature, but iMessage and Google Hangouts work on the 737 Ka-band internet without purchasing service. Internet is also available on the 737s from pushback through gate arrival.
If the internet connection isn't working, try going to www.UnitedWiFi.com to load the portal page. That will show the current status of the internet connection. If internet access isn't available, or the portal page won't load, tell an F/A so the message can be relayed up to us to reset the system. Give it a few minutes, of course, and try a second device if possible first. A reset takes about five minutes, during which, the wifi connection will disappear.
If the internet connection isn't working, try going to www.UnitedWiFi.com to load the portal page. That will show the current status of the internet connection. If internet access isn't available, or the portal page won't load, tell an F/A so the message can be relayed up to us to reset the system. Give it a few minutes, of course, and try a second device if possible first. A reset takes about five minutes, during which, the wifi connection will disappear.