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They use the Enterprise Development Program, no need to jailbreak:
http://developer.apple.com/programs/ios/enterprise/
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British Airways Flight Attendants Using iPads to Improve Customer Service
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They use the Enterprise Development Program, no need to jailbreak:
http://developer.apple.com/programs/ios/enterprise/
Inform your airline when you book your tickets that you'll require a vegan meal. All of the reputable airlines will accommodate your request.
I've personally seen two mobile phones being on deviate a VOR (VHF omnidirectional range) and ILS (instrument landing system). These aren't communications systems, they are navigation systems. I was between 5 and 10 degrees off course because of this. We were two experienced pilots who thought mobile phones didn't have any effect who both made sure our phones were off on the return trip.
Interesting idea. Not sure they need it though, they usually just have a piece of paper with the names of who's in which seat and memorise it.
I personally find BA's customer service to be absolutely top notch!
"More champagne sir?" before I've sat down, a choice of how I want the steak cooked, a seat that folds completely flat to turn into a bed that they'll make-up whilst I go to the loo and put the supplied pyjamas on.
I personally find BA's customer service to be absolutely top notch!
"More champagne sir?" before I've sat down, a choice of how I want the steak cooked, a seat that folds completely flat to turn into a bed that they'll make-up whilst I go to the loo and put the supplied pyjamas on.You are, you are!
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I personally find BA's customer service to be absolutely top notch!
Indeed, if you're travelling up at the pointy end of the plane I'm sure that's true, but for the rest of us, BA's 'customer service' (and I use the term with some caution) is abysmal. And I can't see them getting iPads to play with will help. Why bother looking after your passengers if you can sit down the back playing games on an iPad?
given the -2 you got, it looks like people did not get your sarcasm
I bumped it to -1 ha.ha..It is almost impossible to make airplane food taste good. Besides the obvious, heating and storing issues, the fact is that airplane food cannot have a strong smell (since its so cramped, it will simply linger in the plane). And since smell is a critical factor in taste, its really hard to make decent tasting airplane food.
Interesting idea. Not sure they need it though, they usually just have a piece of paper with the names of who's in which seat and memorise it.
I personally find BA's customer service to be absolutely top notch!
This gives them a lot more information than name and seat.
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Closed doors - opening up?
So if the flight attendants can use 3G when the door is closed, does this mean the airlines are going to finally acknowledge the use of cell phones will not interfere with the flight of the plane? Perhaps we could all use our cell phones until we loose signal so many feet in the air.
So if the flight attendants can use 3G when the door is closed, does this mean the airlines are going to finally acknowledge the use of cell phones will not interfere with the flight of the plane? Perhaps we could all use our cell phones until we loose signal so many feet in the air.
I doubt it. The primary reason they want you to turn off your cell phones (and all electrical devices) is that they want to pay attention to the crew, not have distractions, during the times of the flight when things are most likely to go wrong: Take-off and landing. It is only a secondary concern that it might interfere with the plane if 130+ cell phones are all communicating at the same time the pilot(s) need to communicate most intensely with ground control and the tower. and thirdly that it might interfere with the electronics that control the aircraft. Planes and their crews and passengers have been lost from mis-hearing a single word and their is at least one plane that they think might have goten taken down from an electrical fault that could have come from an electrical device (I think this was an early 757 over thailand, but it has been forever since I read the report).
That's a load. None of those arguments make sense, Not that many years ago when I flew the food was perfectly decent, it's gone downhill substatially due to cost cutting. Simple as that.
Food is heated all the time and is fine, that's hardly a problem, don't you have a microwave? Airline food has all sorts of smells, some strong, but it doesn't linger because the air is replaced in a plane several times an hour.
Not.
They will now complain of the airplane insta-splode the moment the iPad battery runs out.
I realized the more controlled nature of iPad's will make the far more attractive to companies then Android based pads that might be easier to change.
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Fact: It was the FCC, not the FAA that instigated these rules on not using cell phones during flight.
Aircraft communication and navigation systems must be able to block or filter out undesirable electro-magnetic interference. Some of the certification tests are roughly analogous to an airplane full of working cell phones.
That said, it is best not to test the limits of aircraft electronics each and every fight.
PS:
*Backup* flight instruments still tend to be "steam gauges", meaning mechanical and electrical that are immune from radio noise.
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I really don't see an issue here. Most airline uniforms I've seen have an included jacket for colder climates they go into. They would , I imagine hang these up out of the way when not in use. Just store them in the lining of the jackets.
A very simple and cheap alteration could be made to secure the iPad in their uniform jacket so it doesn't fly out of the coat on take off
I also don't think they would need to have one per flight attendant. Maybe five per flight.
You have your front and back galleys that would probably need two each so the attendants can quickly update passenger info on both sides of the plane and also having a main plus one reserve. Plus one in the cockpit for the pilots if they need it (if that's at all possible)
Or at the very least one each for front and back galley so they can instantly update each other with things to grab for passengers or about passengers needing special attention (e.g. Mary in Seat 7G need a extra blanket for her 5 month old , front galley near her doesn't have the right ones needed so polls the back galley to bring it down. etc etc)
I don't see them carting them around the aisles for the entire flight - they will be referred to as a business tools then stored away when not in use. During take off and landing flight attendants already go around getting passengers to secure things and I imagine they would secure things themselves - the iPads could just be another one of those things they have to strap to something. There's usually enough free locker space with included straps in airline galleys AFAIK.
Which would require more development time while an appropriate device is either fabricated or suitable piece of hardware is sourced & licensed.
BA would have system analysts working for them that probably did look into the development cost of creating their own device and decided to go the easier route of sourcing iPads.
If anything it means they get to type into the advantages developing for the iOS brings. A vibrant development community. Supported by Apple for future system updates. Both of which means less work for overstressed developers working for them. No hardware research costs. If anything goes wrong they can use Apple Care / corporate equivalent for tech support.
Let's be honest here - some of those flight attendants are going to be playing games on those iPads. Make it a job performance related perk ie if your performance goes above a certain level for x months you own the iPad. In a competitive job market an airline needs _every_ advantage it can take.
It has a high turn over of rewards and benefits for a lower investment cost then developing their own hardware is.
Lastly if this Enterprise app of these takes off guess what! Depending on the terms of the Enterprise program they could possibly sell the software solution off to other Airlines. The advantage of doing it first means if their program is successful they could possibly sell it off to other airlines. With good luck this investment of theirs could pay for itself !
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Damn that sounds cheap considering what rates the current market has for charging IT work to corporations.
Ha-cha-cha easy updating to all users of the app.
Nice.
Not sure if the terms of the Enterprise program means they can sell the app they develop.
Would you know if they do ? I made that point on a previous post to this thread but want to check if I'm right.
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I think the thought of eventually getting a free iPad through working hard and being good at work would be reason to smile
Not the least of which because they can play RAGE on their breaks. Hey why not. Being a flight attendant must be stressful particularly with those long flights
No - check the 'Compare iOS developer programs' link at the bottom. No App Store distribution.
However, there's no reason why they couldn't sign up for the iOS Company program ($99 a year) and use that account to distribute the app - not that they wouldn't be selling the exact same app that they had developed anyway.
IMO no way would BA be selling this - every airline's backend systems are no doubt very different and BA don't want to be developing and supporting versions for their competitors. The iPad + app represents a competitive advantage that is likely worth more than the revenue they could get from selling the app.
I don't think they would be putting this on the App Store. Software like this isn't really meant for public consumption. I was thinking Airline to Airline private selling.
I also read that feature list differently - that they aren't given the software back end to push their apps to the App Store. Not really needed as they would need to consult with the other airline on how best to implement to their system so an App store dist. method isn't needed here.
What I was meaning is when you join an Apple Developer program , any of their developer programs there is a bit of legal documentation you have to sign. I was wondering what the legal documentation members of the enterprise program have to sign and if that specifically says "no you can not on sell the programs you develop on this program"
Yes but if they code in such a way to be adaptable to other airlines systems .... Then charged extra consultation fees to implement their solution for that other airlines system then run a trial basis .... There is still a fair amount of money to be made for them if they do choose to share it with other airlines.
But I get what you are saying about competitive advantages. This also works the other way for the other airlines - they get to watch BA go first . make all the mistakes and show what challenges come up and how they solved it. This leaves another airline who may want to bring a similar solution to look at that and not make the same mistakes BA does.
Depends on what the iPads are used for. If they're just a replacement for a printed list of names and food preferences, then my enterprise app experience is that they won't get used as much as executives would think... the old printed list is often more useful because you can tear it into sections and take pencil notes on it, and best of all, it fits in a slim uniform's pocket.
If the iPad could be linked into the Attendant Call button system, that would be cool: display the passenger name without looking it up.
To me, it would make sense to also use them for drink/food orders, by doing what some airlines are doing now: taking orders first, then going back and loading the cart. For that app, having the iPad travel on top of the cart as a reminder as you serve makes sense.
Extremely unlikely that the iPads will be set to allow app store downloads.
Again, very unlikely. The point of things like this is to have an advantage over your competitors.
You get two incident calls a year, which is good if you need such things.
Mostly, the Apple $300 a year Enterprise Developer program buys you a certificate to sign apps so you can distribute them from your own in-house servers to devices you set up with a special provisioning profile.
That certificate expires each year. It's like a Roach Hotel. Once you start, you're on the hook for that $300 a year as long as you want your apps to work.
For Blackberrys, it's a one-time $25 fee for an unlimited certificate. For Android, no fee. Not sure about WP7.
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I'm not going to read the entire agreement for the sake of an internet discussion, however it is incredibly unlikely. All source code is copyright of the developer. Apple can have no involvement with how you sell or distribute your own copyrighted work. You submit binaries to Apple, never source code.
So unbelievably unlikely IMO. Your first assumption is that BA's apps are developed in-house by full-time developers. That's very rare for a company that doesn't concentrate heavily on mobile technologies (BA have only one app in the App Store). There's every chance they contracted the app out to an external company (it's what the majority of companies do). Should that be the case, there's no margin in BA creating a new version for a competing company - all the money would go to the external contractor.
As an app developer, I can't see any value in the source code of BA's app to competitors. There's no complex algorithm or framework that couldn't be easily created from scratch by another company. If I were a company like American Airlines, I couldn't see why I would give money to (and become dependent upon) a competitor when I could give only slightly more (could even be less) to a contractor and retain complete control (not bound by any T's & C's of BA). The complexity of an iPad app linked to a backend API is surprisingly low.
Okay sounds logical. I was only speculating on that anyway.
I was wrong
+1's your postDo they have to turn off their electronics during takeoff and landing?
Maybe they'll finally realize how annoying (and completely pointless) that rule is.
Maybe they'll finally realize how annoying (and completely pointless) that rule is.
You're right. It was the FCC who banned them, but it looks like they banned them because they, the FAA, and the airlines refused to pay to prove them safe. (link) Looks like no one has ever shown that they have caused interference, but it has been shown that cell phones can produce EM at levels that COULD cause issues. I am no expert in these things anyway, just was passing along what a pilot friend told me about the reasons for the ban and a little bit that I recall from when I worked at the library at the 737 plant.
The worst and most self-centered idiot on the planet is the one who thinks a rule doesn't apply to them.
There are plenty of empirical reasons to believe that phones interfere with systems. Pilots over the years have reported everything from noise in their headphones (think GSM buzz times dozens of phones) to autopilots kicking off when a first class passenger turned on her phone just before landing (yes, they took it from her).
Just a month or two ago, Boeing was trying to certify an in-plane WiFi system for one of their 737 models, and discovered that the primary cockpit display panels installed in that model would go blank if the WiFi power went too high. That could be deadly. They're having the manufacturer add more shielding.
Aircraft makers simply cannot test all situations for interference. That's why it's better to be safe than sorry, and try to avoid unnecessary interference in the critical flight phases of takeoff and landing.
There are plenty of empirical reasons to believe that phones interfere with systems. Pilots over the years have reported everything from noise in their headphones (think GSM buzz times dozens of phones) to autopilots kicking off when a first class passenger turned on her phone just before landing (yes, they took it from her).
Just a month or two ago, Boeing was trying to certify an in-plane WiFi system for one of their 737 models, and discovered that the primary cockpit display panels installed in that model would go blank if the WiFi power went too high. That could be deadly. They're having the manufacturer add more shielding.
Aircraft makers simply cannot test all situations for interference. That's why it's better to be safe than sorry, and try to avoid unnecessary interference in the critical flight phases of takeoff and landing.