Knowing When to Go to the Airport

When your flying, once the door is up and electronics are turned off, unless you pay for onboard wifi, you can say goodbye to all communication for the duration of the flight.  This includes communicating to whoever is going to pick you up at the airport or is waiting for you at home.  Fortunately, there is an app that helps with that.

When I wrote Tripping with the iPhone, I spoke mostly of using your iPhone to hold your itinerary, find out what gate to go to for a connecting flight, find out if your flight is on time, etc.  I use an app called Flight Update Pro for this.  However, one feature is particularly practical for the person who is not flying but is picking up the flyer from the airport.

This feature is the ability to find out, while the plane is in the air, where it is, and when it's expected to land. Weather, particularly thunderstorms, have a way of changing plans.  With Flight Update Pro or some of the other flight tracking apps, you can see when the person you are picking up should land.  You can even see where the plane is on a map (though I think it's just an approximation based on time).  It's good for planning and good for peace of mind.