FlightAware Flight Tracker

Great app overall, but it has one incredibly annoying, erm, “feature” that I need to vent about. The app checks the App Store for updates at startup and, if an update is found, displays a nag screen about the update that you have to click through before proceeding, disrupting your workflow. For myself and the other 99% of iOS users who have Automatic Updates turned on for the very fact that we don’t want to—and shouldn’t have to, quite frankly—ever consciously think about updating apps and would rather have the OS do it for us automatically in the background at night, this manual update reminder is unnecessary and intrusive. None of my other apps are this OCD about updates. Relax already, the OS will update your app for us eventually. And, by the way, since the app apparently uses the App Store’s staged rollout option, whereby updates can take up to 7 days to reach 100% of users—to wit, I was only just today (Feb 22) auto updated to the Feb 15 release—displaying the update nag notice the instant the app is released makes this practice even more logic defying. If you insist on keeping this update screen, fine, but at least wait 8 days after the update is released to the App Store so that it is only seen by those who don’t use auto app updates.

We had a long 3 segment flight from MIA to FAI through DTW and SEA. We only made it through this app. I used it to track all our flights plus the inbound flights that had our planes as we had a tight connection in DTW. Using notifications it let me know all the statuses and told me before Delta did of delays. Our initial flight had a 2 hour weather related ground stop while we were sitting on it and we would miss our connection in DTW except Flight Aware kept updating me that our DTW-SEA flight kept getting pushed back due to delays so when we got there we made the flight as it got pushed back a few more times due to mechanical issues with the jetway. Except we would miss out SEA-FAI connection! Once again Flight Aware informed me before Delta of delays with our SEA-FAI flight and we ended up making it! Without Flight Aware I might have wrongly accepted Delta’s offers to reschedule a day later and would have missed parts of our scheduled events in Fairbanks!

I have used the Flight Aware app for several years. I find it to be accurate (sometimes more so than the individual airlines) and informative. I can check the local airport(s) for delays which are not always apparent in other ways. For example a clear sunny day but flights being held at the point of origin due to weather (thunderstorms etc.). I know having experienced it my self that when you are sitting in the airport at the departure gate and the plane is there but you are told it is delayed due to weather and it is sunny where you are and at your destination you get frustrated. Flight Aware gives the information about the airport’s delays due to weather and I can check both the departure airport and destination with the weather overlay showing me what is happening. I also like being able to find my plane “Where is my plane now?”. I volunteer for a local non profit as a ‘taxi team driver’. Being able to track the flights I am meeting is a big help.