Flying is always a bit of a conflicted experience for me. On the one hand, I’m off on an adventure; on the other, I have to deal with unpredictable flight schedules, labyrinthine terminals and $9 burritos. But FlightTrack Pro — with its attractive, clean-looking pages offering an abundance of detailed information — makes everything better (except the burrito prices).
That’s because the $10 app makes just about every conceivable flight detail available to the user. Add a flight (really easy to do, via either flight number or route — or if you have a free TripIt account, use your confirmation number) and you’ll get departure/arrival times, airport code, terminals, gates, aircraft and status.
There’s a page that’ll forecast the chance, based on historical data, that your flight’ll get delayed, so you know how much to stress out about cutting it close. And there’s no need to keep checking the app on the way to the airport — it’ll pop out constant flight status push alerts as departure time nears (I didn’t experience any delays during the test period, so the only updates I received were ones reassuring me that everything was hunky-dory).
Once at the airport, you can access a terminal map to help get around with. Up in the air, the app will graphically display the plane’s estimated position, even with the GPS off (because you switched on Airplane Mode, right?), on a satellite map that displays weather patterns from radar.
Not enough? There’s also a page that offers a one-tap call to the airline you’re flying with, an alternate flight button, SeatGuru seating maps and a slot for the odd trip note. Another cool feature is the ability to share all the flight details, and updates (say the plane is delayed or arrives early) via email, tweet, text or Facebook update (although the latter option is a little weird).
FT Pro also seamlessly integrates with Mobiata’s new $4 FlightBoard, which puts a live flight board — y’know, those screens with all the departing or arriving flight information — of any airport right on your iPhone.
if the Pro’s $10 is too steep, the plain-vanilla FlightTrack is $5 and has everything except the terminal maps, all-important push alerts and FAA flight delay info; but flyers who are anything near frequent will almost certainly want the Pro version.
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When he was eight, Eli Milchman came home from frolicking in the Veld one day and was given an Atari 400. Since then, his fascination with technology has made him an intrepid early adopter of whatever charming new contraption crosses his path. He calls San Francisco home, where he works as a journalist and photographer. Eli has contributed to the pages of Wired.com and BIKE Magazine, among others. Hang with him on Twitter.
