The big plus to me was there are no international fees to text/chat with a foreign number, or to send messages to someone back home when you are in another country. Not a big deal to people who rarely leave the US and mainly fly domestically.

Also it runs on data, so if you can’t connect to a cellular network, or don’t want to in another country to avoid roaming, you can still text/chat with a WiFi connection.

The group chat features for me are a small part of what made WhatsApp more useful.

I don't post much, because I abhor social media of any kind, but sady I do lurk a fair bit.
WhatsApp to me has a few advantages. It is more secure than SMS. Which isn't much to brag about. Also when you decide you've had enough of the pilots who text incessantly, like 15 year old girls chatting about boys, you can unsubscribe. SMS group texts are forever, or at least until the last person stops texting.

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You can leave a text thread on SMS. At least I know you can with an iPhone.

I believe with iPhone, once in a group text, people cant leave all the time if people are texting with SMS, and not iMessage.
This according to Apple

"If you don't see the option to leave, it might mean one or more of the users isn't using a device with iMessage. You can't remove yourself from these group texts, but you can mute the conversation."

When you get out of the US where some people doesn't have unlimited minutes and texts, WhatsApp is about the easiest way to get in touch with somebody.

I just use WiFi calling. Phone does this automatically if it doesn’t have a cell signal (or you have it turned off to avoid roaming) and WiFi is on.

Just be aware (and I'm sure you are) that Wi-Fi calling (using the phone, not a program like Facetime or Whatsapp) "costs" you minutes just like a regular phone call might, ie calls to and from a US Number are free, however you'd be charged minutes at the applicable rate for an International Call.

https://www.att.com/shop/wireless/fe...i-calling.html

https://www.t-mobile.com/support/cov...-from-t-mobile

https://www.verizonwireless.com/supp...-calling-faqs/

etc etc.

Moral of the story is, when in doubt and dealing with any kind of international phone call, use an app like Whatsapp to make the call. I learned the hard way a few years ago!

yeah, I sometimes do the same, but I do call a lot of non US numbers, so I use WhatsApp.
Also at my last Job I flew charter mostly out of the country and WhatsApp is about the only reliable way of communicating with the many contacts you have to stay in touch with... they just won't answer the phone and will rather communicate with you thru your FO or your FA if they have WhatsApp and you don't.

So besides everyone getting their rocks off on the WhatsApp, what’s the average wait now for ioe

It varies but could be anywhere from 4 days to 6 weeks. I think most folks are waiting 3-4 weeks. However that could be old intel


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