Crew Room wireless access
 

Hi everyone,

I was curious what other airlines have free wireless access in their crew rooms.
If you do, does the company put filters on it to prevent you from gaining access to websites that don't benefit the company operations.
Here's part of the page that pops up when you try to access non-company approved sites.

"These systems are to be used for business purposes in serving the interests, of the company in the course of daily operations."

When you're sitting on ready reserve all day, you deserve the right to have a distraction. I'm tired of Mesaba treating us like children and am curious if other airlines do the same. I know the Delta crewroom in SLC doesn't filter from personal experience.

Please don't turn this into a discussion about porn sites.
I am referring to sites such as
onetoone.apple.com (tutorial sight)
hulu.com
facebook.com
youtube.com
etc.

Fellow Mesaba Pilots if you can add websites that you believe we should have access to please list them. Thanks in advance.

Pinnacle's crew room in Detroit has free wireless access. I can't say for sure for the other bases though. As for blocking certain sites, not on your personal computer. If you use the companies computers, which are there for company business, then most websites are blocked. If you log on using your own laptop, you can go wherever you want.

While I don't disagree that those sites should be unfiltered in the crew rooms, the entire network includes all of the office employees too. They are filtered there as well for obvious production issues.

The company, probably rightfully so, has decided to not let the IT guys spend time and resources by going out and adding permissions to certain workstations on the network. That's a time consuming job that doesn't add anything other than personal entertainment and that's not part of any financial equation.

Besides, if you know the right people (computer savvy guys), there ARE ways to get around those filters in the XJ crew room on their network. You need your own laptop, however.

Mesaba blanketly puts those restrictions on all company computers and wireless including in the GO. It's not a conspiracy against the pilots, it probably just costs extra money or requires extra work to make exceptions to some policy. I don't see it as being a big deal, especially since there will be at least one idiot out there who will abuse a lack of filter and ruin it
for the rest of us.

When I was at Comair, we did have WiFi in the crew room in CVG, but Management decided to install cameras to "monitor" our web surfing... awesome, eh?

...........................

XJSaab,

If you're using a laptop, you can use Hotspot Shield and browse freely. It connects you through a VPN which makes it secure/private and the web filter in the crew rooms won't detect what you're browsing. The only downside of the small little program is that it'll run an ad or two on every web page you browse but it's totally acceptable, IMO, whenever I want to check fb or any other blocked site. It's reversible also, and not permanent, after you close the program. Besides, if you're using firefox with adblockplus, you'll never see the ads anyway.

...but I do agree it sucks they filter stuff. A lot of jobs will do that, including those outside of aviation.

I agree that company computers are for company use only. Being required to sit at the airport for 7+ hours we deserve the right to have entertainment. The contract is very vague, the ready reserve room needs to be only "comfortable and adequate" But I tell you what, when I sit in the crewroom for seven hours (because we're supposed to stay down there), I am very uncomfortable.

There is always the cost vs benefit topic the company will use. IT need only to set it up once. It would take less then two hours of labor to reconfigure the wireless. Besides they are salary.

Colnago.. I have an apple and don't want to use windows explorer. I've had enough fun with viruses with my last PC computer. What other occupation requires employees to sit around with no work assignment except for being immediately available? Ready Reserve is a different situation than the majority of other jobs.

It works on Macs, and is adware-free. You act like I'm begging you to use the damn program. You can go back to seeing those red screens when you visit facebook. :D

Lol sorry to mean to come across that way :) still learning to use this Mac, I'll check out that sight

truth be told I want hulu so I can catch up on my soaps

Sorry man, XJ has no responsibility to make sure you're entertained while you're pulling RR. Btw... I sit rr as well and adapt. You should too. If you need TV, watch the one provided.

At Skywest, most of our major bases have wifi in the crew rooms - IE SLC, DEN, ORD, LAX, SFO. I think there is a minimal amount of filters to prevent porn, but face book, google, myspace, and most sites work.

There is also another way to get around the secure site. If you put an s on the end of the http, in other words if you type https in the link you can get around all blocked sites.

Yeah the crew wifi is separate from the company network so they allow a lot more access. Haven't tried porn though.

You mean the TV in MSP that hasn't been connected to cable since they put it in there?

Funny... unless it was a DVD with commercials, I saw someone watching the history channel the other day.

Nice! Must have been in the last couple of weeks then, I've been stuck in the training center.

I could be wrong, but I saw it in passing. It was a documentry on the Titanic and then some ad. Or maybe it was the haze of having a 345am wakeup call. Who knows.

At Comair there are no restrictions on the free WiFi in the crew lounges.

There were on the computers though.

You should seek employment opportunities within management.

And that is exactly why I either sit in my car listening to the radio or just randomly wander the terminal rather than spend any time in the crew room. Well also because my phone barely works anywhere in that hallway area. Occasionally I'll go bother Mike too. That can sometimes be entertaining and informative at the same time.