Digital Traveler: Testing 4 Major Flight-Tracking Apps
Categories: Industry News | News
About 20% of major U.S. airline flights were delayed in June, according to the Transportation Department. That’s reason enough to have a mobile app to track flights before you head to the airport.
Many of today’s leading flight-tracking apps — including FlightTrack Free, AirportZoom, FlightView and GateGuru — provide more than arrival and departure times and terminal, gate and baggage claim locations.
Many of these free apps also let you find the best shoeshine at the airport and the best restaurant choices near your departure gate.
According to Dennis Shahl from USA Today, his favorite of the four apps reviewed was FlightTrack Free (iOS and Android) from Expedia-owned Mobiata. And AirportZoom by FlightStats (iPad), which has a different focus, was a close second.
He liked FlightTrack Free for its elegance and simplicity in tracking a flight. It covers 1,400 airlines around the world and 16,000 airports, but lets you monitor the progress of one flight at a time on a zoomable map.
Its search function by airline and flight number or route also is easy to use. It doesn’t bury you with mountains of information.
AirportZoom takes advantage of an iPad’s graphics and is more comprehensive than FlightTrack. But the amount of information it provides — a delay index for the airport, current weather, a seven-day forecast and gate changes — can seem overwhelming.
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