Flight Status – Very important in case you are flying.
It used to be that in order to find the Delta airlines flight status, for example, that one had to call Delta’s 800 numbers and ask the status of the plane in flight, or when it was expected to land. Airline flight status checking is a good deal easier nowadays. To check flight status, one merely needs to go to the airlines home page. Typically, the home page gives the opportunity to address ‘flight status,’ which is the report on when the plan is expected to depart or arrive. United flight status checking is probably the easiest, as their front page asks for several possibilities: they can search by city pair, by your confirmation number, or by your United Airlines frequent flight number. For American Airlines flight status, it is even easier. In addition to showing the flight information on their home page, American, which is the pioneer of internet-enabled tools for travelers, also offers the opportunity to give you information over the your mobile phone, PDA, Blackberry or other mobile medium. This offers the mobile traveler, or road warrior, the possibility to know exactly where they stand with the status of their flight, and to plan their day accordingly.
What is the future of flight status checking? It partly depends on the evolution of mobile media. It could be that the current status checking results are connected to other notices, such as pagers. An intriguing possibility is to implant chips in each traveler, which allow the airline to know where the passenger is at any time. As the passenger is driving to the airport, for example, GPS in the chip would notify active media, such as billboards, that the person is driving by, and report flight availability and estimated time of arrival.
Imagine, in the future, that you’re driving from the center of San Francisco to SFO airport, and you don’t have your cell phone handy. It could be that each billboard you pass knows that you are there, knows your schedule, and is able to give you an up to the minute report on your travel plans. Rather than advertising the latest car or the lottery, for example, the billboard could report “you’re 14 minutes from SFO, but don’t worry, because your flight will arrive 15 minutes late. You even have time to exit at the next ramp and go to a Starbucks for your favorite latte before you need to be at the airport." Such as smart system would be a great thing, wouldn’t it?