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To start with, I'm rather impressed with FlightView. Although it has a few minor issues, it is very useful for a free app.
I started using FlightView last week when my wife flew to Florida. I found all of her flights, had it remember them, and then I could watch and see how she was doing on her trip.
Read on for the full review
First, the bad. Flightview isn't always as up-to-date as one might like. It seems that Southwest in particular doesn't update very quickly, and some updates happen too slow to be of any use other than general information. They would be a little late for the person flying. Other airlines seem to be faster to update. Gate information isn't provided, so you still need to check the boards (or tickets). Also, sometimes it doesn't find flights that exist. If your data connection isn't good or there, it will fail to find the flight, and sometimes it just won't find a flight that is there for no good reason I could find. It seems to be a bit quirky and sometimes you'll need to search many times to find your flight. Once you've found it, you're all set.
The good. Well, really almost everything else. You can see arrival times, departure times, if the flight is delayed, and more. While the flight is in the air, a map is provided with the flight path and the current location of the plane on the flight path. If the plane needs to be diverted around a storm, the path the plane will really be taking is shown. My wife's flight to Tampa was diverted around a storm near Orlando, and the flight path was obviously going around the storm.
Another time I used to when my brother-in-law was flying to see us. I could see his flight, when he was scheduled to arrive, and even see where the plane was. It made it much easier to time picking him up so he didn't have to call for me to know the flight was there.
FlightView also comes with alerts. For each flight, you can turn on alerts which show just like any other alert on your Pre on the bottom of your screen. It will let you know if your flights are delayed rerouted, or any other status change of interest. This is especially useful if you are in a rush and may not be paying as much attention to the boards as you should. These alerts do seem to come in on time for most airlines other than Southwest and I find them very useful.
Although I don't fly a lot, this application has become a "must have" for my flying. If nothing else, it's nice just to have a list of all your scheduled flights and to see the schedule. Flights can be stored and managed for many weeks in the future (as far out as your airline publishes them, it seems). In addition, you can add flights to your calendar using FlightView to save you one extra step in the process of your travel.
Overall, I score this app a 4/5. If the glitches in searching for flights were fixed and all airlines were a little faster at getting updates out, I would give it a solid 5. Because it is free, I would strongly reccomend this for anyone that flies at all. It's very easy to get hooked on it.
Comments
I used and liked Flightview on a couple recent trips, particularly appreciating the flight status updates. One glaring ommssion is gate info. If it would display that, the value would go up dramatically, to where I'd be willing to pay for the app.
It does give gate info. At least it did for the flight I was tracking last night.
Hmm. Wonder if that's airline dependent, or if it appeared in the recent update.
I used it before the update, and don't think I missed gate info - looked around pretty exhaustively. Where did it show up for you?
Aha, just checked a flight, and you're right - must have been added in the recent update. A good application just became great, IMHO.
Yeah, I'm not sure when it started showing up but was pleasantly surprised to see it. There is even a baggage indicator there. Not sure if that's showing the max bags allowed or what.
Its a nice app. It will also add your "Managed Flights" details to your Pre's calendar, with alerts also if needed. Also I've notice that this app will actually update in the background (flight map view). No need to refresh. I like it.
The updating of my calendar didnt work from Flightview. It kind of slowed up the calendar app and I only could get to the day before the flight date and it would stop.
It should work. I update my calendar a month in advance. My July schedule is already in & I think the calendar presentation is great.
This works just fine for me. I currently have 4 flights scheduled in my Calendar directly from FlightView. Maybe you need to update your version of FlightView? Not sure.
In the calandar app I see the Flightview account added but its not listed in the calandar view list. Under what calandar should the flight event be added to?
While I haven't used this app yet for my own personal flights, I did use it to track my brother's flight from Orlando. I found it really interesting and moderately useful. Using the alerst, I knew when the plan had landed and that it landed in one piece.
I will be taking a trip in July and have already found and set my flights to be managed. I easily added the flights to my calendar with a button click.
Can't wait to see if it will give me the gate info.
I have used it, and found it very helpful, especially the alerts and calendar integration. What I would like for the future is:
- More info (like gates, etc)
- Tracking of the plan outside of the current flight. I want to see the flight coming in to my home airport.
- Ability to go from an email, recognize the flight info and auto load in the managed flights. (or a web page)
I love this Application as I constantly fly for work and have to pick up other co-workers at the airport often. Also Delta and Northwest always display information for me.
This App is very reliable and has saved my butt from missing my connecting flight and getting stuck in Orlando for the night by informing me that my flight out of Puerto Rico had been delayed. I was able to call the airline and change my flight. Now, if only the app had a button to call the airline selected....
Great review! I actually gave it 5 stars. I know the flight data is the most important thing, but I spoke with flightview, and they are pushing data out as fast as possible, and in most cases they know the details as quickly as the actual airports do.
Note that the app is free now, but they are planning on charging a 'nominal' fee in the future, so I'd definitely enjoy the free version while it lasts. I know I will be paying for it when need be though; the app is worth it.
See my Flightview for Palm Pre Review
I have used the program a couple times over the last week. Both Delta and AirTran both seem to keep the information updated - and showed the gate numbers.
Funny to see this review as I've just gotten some first hand experience with Flightview on the Pre.
My mom just flew in last night from Florida on AirTran (FL233 6/25). There was a 7 1/2 hour (yes seven) delay on her flight. Anyway, her flight was scheduled for 4:25pm and at 3pm I got an alert saying the flight was delayed until 11:47pm. Since this was my first time using it on the Pre and because it's a beta, I thought there was a mistake.
Call my mom, she was already at the airport waiting and hadn't heard anything. Got online to confirm the delay...info was accurate. AirTran did not inform them of the delay until 4:30 (five minutes AFTER scheduled departure time -- great customer service right there). The new departure time was exactly what FlightView was showing.
I continued receiving updates throughout the day and finally got to the airport just as she was landing. Perfect data coming in from these guys.
By the way, she got in at around 1:20AM this morning. Thanks to FlightView, I got there exactly when I needed to be there.
5 Stars!!! I will definitely pay for this app!
I use this app to track my wife's flights and my own (we are both business flyers). Great app, great review! I would add that a weather radar map is pictured along with the flight route, which is particularly cool. (you mentioned the re-routing around storm, but its definitely worth mentioning the radar picture). I've noticed that gate info is there but often inaccurate due to last minute gate changes.
for us airport workers is a great app to track our flights during our working days.. i use the online version on my 755p since i don't have my pre just yet!! we have flight screens but i'm not walking back and forth with the option of having flightview at hand :0)
Thanks. Very nice review. Will be using in the future.
I find this app extremely useful. As others have stated, the version I have on my Pre showed gate information on the date of the flight. I am not certain at what point this information became available n Flight View. I am assuming as soon as the airline (in my case Continental) made it available, but since I was tracking an incoming flight which I had to meet I didn't check the data until about an hour before take off and the gate info was there.
One thing that no one mentioned is that it shows baggage claim number. I recently picked up an arriving relative. When I checked Flight View about an hour prior to her departure, I was able to view:
Scheduled departure time
Estimated (updated quickly as this, as always, was a moving target) and then actual departure time
Departing airport terminal and gate #
Schedule landing time
Estimated and then actual landing time
Arriving terminal and gate #
Baggage claim number (this changed & was updated between time of flight take off and arrival)
Other pluses:
Integration into calendar worked well
Fun ability to see mapped plane tracker as it flew across country
Consistent update notifications from the app which appeared in Pre's notification area (these did not come through SMS but rather the app itself - selecting the notification took you directly to the apps flight details)
I travel a lot and this app is going to be well loved.
I was very excited when I saw this app. I was even more excited when I first used it and it worked like a charm. Then I got disappointed very quickly. I fly a lot. I usually take the same flight every week. It doesn't make sense for me to add the same flight to my flight list every week. I would like to be able to tell the app to track flight XYZ every Friday. Until then, this app is not so useful to me anymore.
These reviews are a great promo and experiment and all. But could we please get these folks a copy editor, Dieter? twitch
I have the same problem as miles4000. Latest Flightview app and latest webOS. It freezes up the calendar when I try to look at the date of my flight, and never shows the meeting. It also gets stuck on the day before and after. As soon as I remove the calendar from FlighView, the calendar is OK. FlightView needs to fix this.
I agree with most of the things that have been said here. Flightview is a great app, with a few glaring caveats:
1) DELAY IN NOTIFICATIONS:
Ever since getting my Pre on launch day, I've gone on multiple flights now. The most glaring flaw in this app is the delay in notifications. I took a recent trip using Southwest and I was not notified of a delayed departure until RIGHT at the time of takeoff. In addition, on another trip using American Airlines, I had wanted to catch an earlier flight in Dallas... this flight was CANCELLED, but according to Flightview it was "Scheduled". These delays and omissions need to be fixed ASAP, especially if Flightview ever plans on charging for this app.
2) CALENDAR BUGS:
Calendar integration is nice, but I was troubled when I saw that I could actually DRAG the calendar entry around my calendar. That should not happen!
In addition, changing time zones when traveling causes the calendar entry to SHIFT up or down by the corresponding number of hours! I think this is more of a calendar bug than Flightview bug, but it needs to be addressed.
3) I'd like to see an "email itinerary" function in this app.
... That about covers it. This app is great for following flights of other people and for organizing flight plans. For personal travel, however, I still rely on Orbitz for notifications.
My Father's 4:30 PM JetBlue flight from Florida was canceled at 8:00 AM, but FlightView still showed it as departing at 4:30 all day. Not very effective, in my view.
did this app disappear? i installed it had to reset the phone, came back to get it and now it's gone.
anybody know what's up?
thanks
tony
Thanks for shared it.
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