Check it Out
Posted on June 5, 2008
With the latest trend in grounded planes, crowded air-space, Chapter 11 filings and potential mergers, the chances that you will experience a flight delay or cancellation this summer is, well, pretty significant. I was recently stuck on the runway at LGA for an hour because of “crowded air-space.” I was not surprised because I fly out of that airport a lot and it is not uncommon for this to happen. I did however have someone in Birmingham that was picking me up at the airport and I needed to let them know my flight was going to be late.
Fortunately Birmingham is one of the easiest airports to get in and out of and it has a great cell-phone waiting lot. But who wants to sit in a car for an hour. A heads up would have been nice. And for the traveler, if you know your flight is late or cancelled before you get to the airport you can make better provisions like holding your room for another day or looking at alternate flights.
My point is, knowing BEFORE you get to the airport is key. That is where my website tip comes in, www.flightstats.com. FlightStats collects information from a large number of sources (government, airline, airport and others) and presents an intuitive display of data. Registered users can explore details collected from each data source. In short, FlightStats:
- Tracks flight status
- Combines runway and gate times
- Has global coverage
- Provides excellent codeshare mapping
- Links US airport delay information to the affected flight
- Stores information historically and calculates on time performance ratings
As you can see this site is a great source. And if you are in a situation where you can’t access the Internet on your computer or your hotel’s business center, FlightStats has a mobile device address that gives you some basic tools like Flight Status, Next Available Flight, Airport Chatter, Airport Information, Airline Information, Security Wait Times, Weather Center and Current Airport Delays.
So the next time you are on the road or picking someone up at the airport, you can check the status of the flight from your Web-enabled PDA or cell phone. Accessing this information is simple. Direct your browser to http://mobile.flightstats.com and save the address as a favorite. You can also send proactive flight alerts to your email or to your mobile device. Simply find the flight your want to track using the Flight Status application and click on the Alert Icons to set-up flight alerts.
The World Wide Will
MedjetAssist -Take Trips, Not Chances
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