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United Airlines attendants will get the iPhone 6 Plus to help you mid-flight
Now that Apple finally has a large smartphone, it's venturing into places that were previously off-limits. Case in point: United has announced that all of its 23,000 "mainline" flight attendants will get the iPhone 6 Plus in the second quarter of 2015. Staff will initially use the supersized handset to check email and manuals (typically on the ground) as well as handle your mid-flight headphone and snack purchases. The airline isn't stopping there, however. Future upgrades will let crews report cabin problems, and there are promises of more "customer-focused tools" to help you out. United isn't the first American carrier to use giant phones in the air, but its iPhone plans could still do a lot to make your next flight go smoothly.
FAA planning to let you use your gadgets in flight
I know those flight attendants are just doing their job, but I've always resented being made to "turn off" my iPhone and iPad during pre-flight announcements. Ever since Mythbusters disproved it, I've never believed that there was a problem between my iPad's wireless connection and the airplane's signaling (especially in Airplane Mode, which is what it's for, right?), and I've always secretly suspected that turning things off was just a ploy to make me rewatch those safety instructions yet again. Now, finally, it looks like the FAA is ready to relax those rules, after another report saying that there are no issues between consumer wireless devices, and airplane tools. The regulations themselves date back to the 1960s, when wireless devices were indeed very different, and it's about time these rules were laid to rest. Note, however, that the report doesn't mention actual phone calls -- this change, if made, would only be about turning devices on and off, not full wireless interaction. Certainly, there are good reasons to keep flight passengers quiet and paying attention during pre-flight announcements, and if that's what this is all about, then they should say that. But the "wireless interference" story has always been bunk, and hopefully, if this report is finalized, we should see the FAA turn the rule around officially in a few months. [via @martinvars]
