British Airways has announced that its joining the likes of US airline Delta in deploying the iPad in their business. However, unlike Delta, British Airways is not giving the iPad to its pilots to use in the cockpit (although that may come at a later date, of course), but rather the iPads are being used by the BA cabin crew to provide “prior awareness of customer preferences†as well as a “greater understanding of each customer’s previous travel arrangements,†with the hope that such knowledge will enable the cabin crew to provide a more bespoke and personalised service.
According to BA, cabin crews are using the iPads to quickly indentify where each customer is sitting, who they are travelling with, what their Executive Club status might be, as well as any special meal requests. It also enables the crew to have useful information, such as timetables, safety manuals and customer service updates instantly available to them, without having to carry vast folders full of paper around. Previously, just before the doors are shut and the plane is about to leave, the cabin crew is handed a long sheet of paper, listing up to 337 passengers. Now the cabin crew will simply have to refresh their iPads when the doors are closed to instantly access a complete list of all passengers.
The iPad is currently being trialled with 100 cabin crew, with BA planning to roll out iPads to all senior crew members throughout the airline over the next few months.
Source: British Airways via MacRumors
