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Check Flight Arrival Status by Phone?
Posted by Gina Trapani at 8:10 AM on March 7, 2008
Dear Lifehacker,
I've found myself many times en route to the airport to pick up someone wanting to check if the flight is on time. I typically have to call a friend to check this online. Are there any services that offer flight arrival info by phone?
Signed,
Airport Pickup
Dear Airport,
Some airlines may offer an automated voice system that lets you check flight status with a call. But the easiest way I've found to check flight status on the go is SMS. Two services do this.
First, there's the lesser-known, but great-with-flights service 4INFO. Add 4INFO to your mobile's address book (short code 4INFO, or 44636), and send a text message to them with the airline and flight number in the body (like "China Southern 678"). You'll get back a message within the minute with departure and arrival details. Here's our original 4INFO post about checking flight status via text message.
Google SMS can also give you flight status. Fire off a text message to short code GOOGLE (466453) with the airline and flight number, and the big G will text you back with details.
Hope that helps!
Love,
Lifehacker
P.S. Readers, how do you check flight status on the way to the airport? Let us know in the comments.
Tags: ask lifehacker | google | sms | travel
Comments (AU Comments · US Comments)
Jay Salt
Posted March 7, 2008 10:23 AM
if your phone is equipped with High-Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA), just point your browser to this website
http://www.melbourneairport.com.au/fids/info.asp
it will inform you of all flight details in real time, whether it has landed, delayed or cancelled.
Michael Lockrey
Posted March 7, 2008 9:43 PM
Ditto for Brisbane Airport corporation - offers sms and rss facilities.
http://www.bne.com.au/content/standard_v4_lookandbook.asp?name=SMSFlightTimes
http://www.bne.com.au/content/standard_v4_lookandbook.asp?name=RSSFlightTimes
Note:
I can still vividly recall being 45 minutes late for my wife and two son's arrival home from an overseas trip - but at least I knew they had landed on time and safely!
Jason
Posted 4:19 AM 7/3/08
I should have mentioned, one nice thing about the FlightStatus app versus Google SMS is you can use flight status to look up the flight based on city pair and arrival or departure time, even if you don't know the airline. This makes it useful also as a tool for checking what other flight options exist when your flight's been canceled or delayed.
Jason
Jason
Posted 4:19 AM 7/3/08
If you have a Treo or other wireless palm device, I also really like FlightStatus, a freeware Palm app at:
[andrewsoft.net]
Jason
Deprong Mori
Posted 4:19 AM 7/3/08
@mr_oshodi:
Tragic, isn't it?
Deprong Mori
mr_oshodi
Posted 4:19 AM 7/3/08
@Deprong Mori: you sounded like some professor at Lifehacker University
mr_oshodi
sdbeach
Posted 4:19 AM 7/3/08
The easiest is to text message the flight number to Google (466453). They send you the flight status details on your phone in a second.
sdbeach
Deprong Mori
Posted 4:19 AM 7/3/08
Phone-based flight status services predate *all* web-based flight status services. That's right, people have been calling the airlines decades before NCSA Mosaic touched down on UNIX.
United Airlines automated flight status: 1-800-824-6200
I'll leave it as an exercise to readers to find these toll-free numbers on their own.
Deprong Mori
drb
Posted 5:23 AM 7/3/08
Tellme (1-800-555-TELL) is a free service that, among other things, will connect you to any airline's 800 number free of charge (say "travel" then "airlines"). It also features other handy info such as weather, driving directions, news, sports, etc.
drb
Bubarubu
Posted 5:23 AM 7/3/08
If you have AT&T as your wireless provider, you can dial *8 for VoiceInfo. The voice recognition isn't the best, but they've got flight info there in the "Travel" section.
Bubarubu
Craig
Posted 5:23 AM 7/3/08
If you have an iPhone try [iphone.travelocity.com] for access to flight schedules, gate and time info (includes flight status), and security wait times.
Craig
chrisgeleven
Posted 5:23 AM 7/3/08
Southwest lets you setup SMS alerts for flight delays, takeoffs, and landings.
chrisgeleven
DarrenLu
Posted 5:23 AM 7/3/08
If you have web access on your phone, the absolute best site is [mobile.flightstats.com]! They have realtime flight status, airport and airline information, even security wait times!! I never go to the airport without checking them on the way.
DarrenLu
PotKettleBlack
Posted 6:31 AM 7/3/08
Most airlines have a tool (orbitz has one too) that will alert you, via SMS to changes. So, check the flight before you leave, set up your reminder, and let them call you if there's any change.
Standard Text Messaging fees will apply.
PotKettleBlack
clinch
Posted 7:06 AM 7/3/08
For those who prefer e-mail to texting, SnapAsk is a good alternative (www.snapask.com). Just e-mail Ask@Snapask.com with the flight details in the subject line (e.g. "China Airlines 678"). Replies back by e-mail, usually within 5-10 seconds.
clinch
Kevin100
Posted 7:06 AM 7/3/08
I usually use USA Today's flight tracking service on my Treo at [m.4info.net]
Kevin100
ddrager
Posted 7:06 AM 7/3/08
Best way is to remember to set up this alert system before leave your home. Who wants to be browsing for info on a small little screen while driving 65 on a busy highway. Flightstats.com texts updates right to your phone.
As Darren above wrote, mobile.flightstats.com is a great little site you can access from your mobile web browser.
ddrager
c2d
Posted 7:06 AM 7/3/08
Hey, my question got answered! :) Thanks for posting this, Gina! Exactly what I was looking for. SMS to 4INFO or the big G sounds hassle free and easy. I have 500 text messages a month in my plan and barely use 10.
c2d
TechTalk WRLR 98.3FM
Posted 7:45 AM 7/3/08
i fly primarily united, and use their auto-update service to alert me by sms, email, and voicemail if my flight has been cancelled or changed.
for gate info i just point my windows mobile browser to ual.com and their mobile interface is great for checking status on the fly.
TechTalk WRLR 98.3FM
plchan
Posted 8:56 AM 7/3/08
I always use the airlines' toll free numbers to check the status. I programmed them in my cell phone and as well in the outlook (in case if I need to sync it to PDA / Blackberry).
Checking flight status via SMS might be cool. However, since I don't have any SMS package in my calling plan, I don't intend to check anything via SMS.
plchan
EnOne
Posted 8:56 AM 7/3/08
I find the easiest way to track someone's flight is to go to www.flightaware.com
If you register with the site (it's free) you can have the site send you an SMS message for; Arrival,
Diverted, Cancelled, or Departed on any flight.
On the site you can even see where the flight currently is on a map of the US.
EnOne
aseriesoftubes
Posted 1:09 PM 7/3/08
If you have AT&T, press the web button to get to MediaNet. Go to the search box at the top of the page, type the name of the airline and the flight number, then click Search.
If you have Verizon, click Get it Now in your phone's menu, then click News and Info. Navigate to search and press Select (or just press 0). Enter the airline name and flight number, then click Search.
Both of the above also work for horoscopes, movie times, and weather (type W and your Zip code).
aseriesoftubes
ajft
Posted 2:08 PM 7/3/08
One problem is that some airlines will quite happily report the flight status as what it *should* be rather than what it is. I had a friend call the airport, was told that "flight xyz left at nn o'clock", she caught got to the airport half an hour later, hung around for another half hour, called the "information line" again and was told that my flight had landed at nn + 35 minutes, assumed she had missed me and drove home. I was still waiting to take off at the other end!
ajft
sweetchuck
Posted 4:36 PM 7/3/08
Text Google. I've used this so often (no web phone) for weather, flights, addresses, phone numbers...
sweetchuck
dublinjames
Posted 12:45 AM 8/3/08
[www.flightstats.com] or mobile.flightstats.com ... by far the best I've found. Quite often I've noticed their information is more up-to-date than checking with the airlines directly.
dublinjames
Maurizio
Posted 3:54 PM 8/3/08
I used both 4info and Google for a recent trip from SFO to BOS. There were delays, Google (which seems to be powered by FlightStatus, but I could be wrong) was far better than 4info.
Maurizio
aufmobi
Posted 3:54 PM 8/3/08
There are a number of good mobile websites for flight and travel info.
PhoneFavs has a good list of them:
[phonefavs.com]
aufmobi
projex
Posted 3:54 PM 8/3/08
Both 4INFO and Google SMS use FlightStats as the flight status data provider. There are quite a few other options to get FlightStats data on your mobile phone as well. Rather than using a bunch of airline toll-free numbers, you can dial 1-800-Flights. It has a very nicely implemented voice automation system and works well if your thumbs are busy elsewhere. You can also just type in your flight number, e.g. AA 225, into the search boxes on both mobile.google.com and mobile.yahoo.com to get FlightStats data. MobiMate has a really good thick client travel app - WorldMate - available for free. Many others are under development.
projex
zkam
Posted 5:37 PM 10/3/08
@clinch - Thanks for the snapask.com tip... Several years ago, there was halibot.com, then there was hz.com. Both have gone away. I've been wondering if there was a similar info-by-email service, and this appears to be it. (Not as much info, but a good start.)
zkam