Qatar Airways Cabin Crew Getting Smartphones

"12-hour flight from Doha to Manchester, with an A330 that looks a mighty lot like a 787."

I think DOH-MAN gets A350s, which means impressively not a single thing adds up here.

Will the app also shoot out a laser to vaporize passengers and staff who voice and criticism of Qatar Airways ?

Adding new tech on top of a malign autocracy just makes it more efficient at doing evil.

Hah jokes on them I already had a smartphone for years now

Delta's cabin crew are equipped with smartphones, and can use them to take orders but I usually see them using pen and paper. I think its just a lot easier to use a pencil (especially for customization/notes? than it is to type out comments in a standard app. That said, they do break them out to answer questions about gate changes, tight connections, etc., since they can see the entire itinerary.

You can always figure out where your pen is in relation to the paper so things can be scribbled down as you think of something else but using 2 blunt fingers to tap tiny buttons without tactile references on the screen is harder and you probably have to break your concentration to do that

This could be more of a trojan horse which could be used by Qatar Airways HR to track crew movement and be able to communicate orders/directives to staff 24/7. No rest for the wicked!

Just had a Qatar Airways business class Qsuite flight a couple weeks ago from LAX to Doha. This was the first time I saw the crew taking orders with the smartphone. Exactly as you said, rather impersonal, but it’s a food order, so I don’t care. The staff and crew are always exceptional and I take Qatar whenever possible because it’s the best product in the sky. I have another r/t Qatar Airways flight tomorrow and will see if the smartphones are used then as well.
Regardless, the flights, the Al Safwa first class lounge, and the great service are outstanding.

Call me a dinosaur too but bring back the old drinks and meal service by trolley.More interaction between crew and customers and...more importantly a lot quicker!!

Ditto on the Emirates comment. It makes for a very off putting experience. In addition to the crew just staring at their smartphone all the time and not engaging with passengers, there is also an over-reliance on the technology and way too much “computer says no”! I found it detrimental to service flow!

In economy smart phones are very useful for special meals. Lufthansa was able to deliver special meals quickly (on a flight with over 100) as it was all on their iPad/smart phone (with a seating chart and colors) so they just brought out the meals on a cart and handed out special meals when they got to a seat with a special meal indication on their iPad. They were also able to search passengers by name if they switched seats to appropriately hand out special meals.

AF/SAS on the other hand took forever as they were bringing them out two at a time and delivering them to specific seats based on the seat number written on each meal