Taking your Laptop on Layovers

[cabinboy]

Hi Guys,

Just wanting to know "if" any of you and how many of you take your laptop with you on tour of duty's ? Is it a common thing now for most flight attendants to take their laptops with them or is this just a new craze being introduced ?

Is there not better things to do on your layovers ?

Thanks in Advance

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" The Cabin Crew Superstar "

[This message has been edited by cabinboy (edited 26 March 2000).]

[chicken_or_fish]

Wish I HAD a laptop to take on a layover!
And in answer to your question about "better things to do on a layover"....... not when all you have is anything from 16 to 24 hrs between landing and the next take-off, as we usually do.
On another note, how did the interviews go Cabinboy??? Could do with someone with a humor like yours over here!!!

[Tarantella]

Of course we take our laptops with us!
How else could we reply so promptly to the pprune grapevine?
Only bad when you stagger home drunk at 3 am and try to be articulate! LOL

[cabinboy]

Hi Chick_or_fish,

Get me a job their and I will gladly bring my humour over !

Well, unsuccesful with Virgin Australia regarding 1st cabin crew intake, however have got upcoming interviews with Ansett and Virgin Oz for customer service positions. The competition for Virgin Oz was very tough, I was probably one of the youngest candidates..

Tarantella, is it not expensive for you to "Log on" every time you hit the hotel room ?

CIAO
Cabinboy
P.S - If you are looking for some interesting reading go into the " Dunnunda and Godzone forum " and look at the topic " QF flight attendants and their big mouths "


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" The Cabin Crew Superstar "

[Jetlegs]

Thanks for the pointer Cabinboy. Interesting thread
JLS

[Azzurra]

I got a Laptop at the end of last year to replace my old, slow PC with. To start with, I took it on trips with me with the idea I could be contacted via email easier, but I soon realised that it was more of a bother to take it with me than just to leave it at home. I don't have a worldwide internet connection thing so every time when I wanted to go on the internet (and when I didn't need an adapter for the cable) I would have to dial internationally to the one I use at home. And also, everyone else would ask just to check their emails for a few minutes, so when I eventually got the bill ( ) I decided it was more economical to just leave it at home!

But when you can't sleep at 04.00 you don't have to watch CNN or anything on the TV, you have the choice to play solitaire instead.

Excuse the editings! Only after I post do I notice my awful spelling!

[This message has been edited by Azzurra (edited 27 March 2000).]

[This message has been edited by Azzurra (edited 27 March 2000).]

[The Sleeping Pax]

Azzura, I don't know if you have an occaisional layover in MCT but GTO have a cheapish Internet connection for visitors. Username is Omantel, Password is Omantel and the number to call is 1312.I use it on my visits to Oman and it always works.
Does anyone know of any other cheapish Internet connections?

[blackadder]

Internet cafes in BKK are only £1/hour, there's a good one opposite the Amari Watergate run by a skinny little Italian guy.
Very helpful bloke.
Ripoff Britain is around £6/hour in a cafe.

[stickyb]

Getting onto the internet varies tremendously around the world, but there are a couple of things which can help when you are not in a friendly place such as HKG with free local calls.

1. Take out a compuserve account, around 15 US dollars a month I think. That will give you a list of local rate access points in a lot of countries.

2. Take out a subscription to IPass through your existing ISP (see http://www.ipass.com/ )
This will also give you local access numbers in a lot of places.

I don't find most internet cafes are very useful for e-mail unless you use a web-based e-mail system. I much prefer to use a POP3 mailbox and MS Outlook.

[SussexAirwaysPurser]

For those of you planning trips to the Middle East I wouldn't recommend taking laptops into Saudi, as customs/religious police almost systematically do checks on them, usually checking the hard drives for any "offensive" material.
In the UK "EasyEverything" cafes (sister company to EasyJet) are a cheap (if not free at off peak times) solutions with prices based on how busy the cafe is - prices re usually at £1/hour. Locations at Victoria Stn and Oxford St with 4-5 others at the moment & are rapidly expanding like the airline. They even advertise in BA's "High Life" in flight mag.

[The Sleeping Pax]

Forget Bandar (Brunei) Small Boring Expensive. One Internet Cafe, if you can find it, and the charge the earth for just 15 minutes. How about $30 Brunei or Singapore.

[Virginia Plane]

I used to when I was long haul cabin crew. Now I'm a short haul pilot with no night stopping requirements so the laptop stays welded to the coffee table. It certainly was useful downroute for killing boredom though.

[ExSimGuy]

Freeserve in UK has guaranteed local call rate, FreeI in US seem to have nearby connections most over the US. Trouble is my "DialupNetworking" window has so many icons in it now!

Saudi doesn't seem too bad nowadays. Never had a lap-top checked in the couple of years I have travelled with one (but to be sure, make sure there's not a directory in C:root called "PornStuff" full of JPEGs and MPEGs !)

A laptop with an I/R port and matching mobile phone helps avoid hotel charges.

I just wish somebody could get a truly international system - with local or cheap calls in ANY country! (would get rid of all those different icons and POP3 settings to work around!!)

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Flight Sims, very expensive toys - but real fun to play with!

[stickyb]

Originally posted by ExSimGuy:

I just wish somebody could get a truly international system - with local or cheap calls in ANY country! (would get rid of all those different icons and POP3 settings to work around!!)

But this is exactly what the IPass system gives you. A local telephone number in each country, and your POP3 settings remain absolutely untouched.

[ExSimGuy]

StickyB,

JUST as I suspected, no access point in Saudi, Emirates or Qatar (probably part of the reason is that you have to use the local proxy "firewall" here) but Oman and Bahrein included.

I wonder if FreeServe in UK would issue you an iPass facility (your email not posted so I don't know if you are with them) as that is ONE of the accesses I use during my travels! Sure would be useful - other than the above Gulf States - an impressive list of countries

[Octopus]

To Sleeping Pax

In Bahrain try 900400.