What Flight Attendants Can See About You During a Flight — Thanks to Their Work Phones

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A viral complaint about a flight attendant “using her phone” raised a bigger question: what are those airline-issued devices actually used for onboard?

A couple of years ago, a passenger with Delta Diamond Medallion status landed herself in hot water after bragging about repeatedly reporting flight attendants to Delta.

Her method was always the same: if she saw a flight attendant doing something she felt was inappropriate, she’d write to the airline — sometimes including a photo she’d discreetly taken of the employee. Delta would respond with an apology and SkyMiles. She’d then post in a Facebook group about what she’d received “this time.”

One of her most frequent complaints? Catching flight attendants looking at their phones — something that is against Delta’s rules if the device is personal.

Regardless of how anyone feels about tattling on crew members, the situation raised an important question most passengers never think about:

What if the phone wasn’t personal at all?

Today, most major U.S. airlines issue company-owned smartphones or tablets to their flight attendants. These devices aren’t for social media or personal use — they’re core operational tools that manage everything from passenger service to safety and inflight communication.

And yes, they can display quite a bit of information about the people onboard.

What’s on their phones?

Airlines including Delta, American, United, and Alaska have confirmed that company-issued devices are now central to onboard operations and customer service. Each airline has its own system, but here are a few examples of how they’re used.

American Airlines

American Airlines has embraced mobile devices for its staff since at least 2013. In early 2022, it replaced and refreshed mobile devices for frontline employees — including flight attendants and maintenance staff — with new iPhone and iPad models.

American has said the apps used by flight attendants are meant to “improve customer and crew experiences and streamline onboard passenger service.”

Delta Air Lines

Delta has used different hardware over the years, but most recently rolled out about 19,000 iPhone 12s (with 5G) to flight attendants in 2021. In 2024, Delta introduced Tap to Pay technology.

United Airlines

United has had flight attendants using company iPhones since at least 2006. The goal is to deliver “personalized customer service” and help employees communicate about flight issues.

But what can flight attendants see about us?

Each airline’s system is different, but they tend to show flight attendants information such as:

• The flight manifest (names, seat numbers, and sometimes notes like pre-ordered meals and connections)
• Your name and seat number (including for things like service recovery or refunds tied to a specific seat)
• Whether you have a payment method on file (depending on the airline and product)
• Whether you’re over/under 21 (for alcohol service)
• Whether you’re a loyalty program member
• Your status level (if any)
• Your mileage balance (in some systems)
• Connections to your next flight (typically if it’s on the same airline)
• Whether you’re traveling with other passengers on that reservation
• Service notes that may matter onboard (for example, allergies or special service requests)

They can also see non-personal operational information, such as:

• Inventory levels
• Catering and item location/tracking (depending on the airline)
• Staffing details
• Training modules and reference materials (procedures, safety checks, passenger assistance, etc.)

Some airline-specific examples

Alaska Airlines

Alaska Airlines began using an app called Ditto in early 2023. It’s loaded onto flight attendants’ company-issued phones, and yes, it allows them to more easily share passengers’ personal details.

American Airlines

According to one of our readers, Dave, who says he’s an American Airlines flight attendant, AA flight attendants can access the physician-on-call via their phones while inflight. They can also text gate agents and communicate issues during boarding.

“We also can see which passengers have scanned their boarding passes to board. We can also see inbound and outbound connections. We can see if you purchased Admirals Club passes. And we can accept all tap-to-pay options. We also file our reports about catering or flight issues to the company,” Dave continued. (Thanks, Dave!)

Delta Air Lines

I have a friendly acquaintance who’s a Delta flight attendant, so of course I went to the source. They said the app has a LOT of features, but the ones they mentioned that weren’t already listed above were:

• Work email
• Text “Crew Assist”
• Communication with gate agents and operations
• MedLink for medical emergencies

They also said they can only use approved apps on their Delta-issued devices — and the airline knows when they’re in the air, so some apps are blocked during flight. For example, they can’t search for open trips to swap onto while inflight because it’s not flight-related work.

So there you go. It’s not everything, but it’s a start. Not surprisingly, flight attendants’ company-issued phones let them do pretty much what you’d expect in 2026.

As always, many thanks to “Jamie” for their help. 

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This post first appeared on Your Mileage May Vary