Posts filed under 'Travel'
If you ever find yourself making airline reservations over the phone or even at a travel agency, it’s difficult to know what the “good” seats are. Seat 11C sounds just as good as 13E, but you don’t really know until you get on the plane. Or maybe you’ll be traveling with your two year old (good luck), and you really need to be near the restroom.
For these and countless other reasons, Mobile SeatGuru is a useful resource for ensuring your next flight is as comfortable as it possible can be. Not only do the intuitive seat maps tell you that seat 13E on an American Airlines Boeing 737-800 is an aisle seat, it also cautions you to “Be Aware” of that seat, presumably because it does not recline. This is much more information than the airline seat checker will tell you when you are making a reservation online.
Of course, it all displays nicely on a mobile browser. Give it a try the next time you are planning a trip for anyone with special needs — which clearly includes anyone bringing a two-year old.
Mobile Website:
mobile.seatguru.com
June 5th, 2008
Delta Airlines‘ mobile website lets you check-in, check flight status, change your flight, and check your SkyMiles balance, among other things.
And as of last November, customers can scan the bar code of their electronic ticket at a kiosk, and get their boarding pass on the spot.
No word yet on what the pending merger with Northwest Airlines will have in store for Delta’s mobile services, but I’m sure it will not change anytime soon.
Mammoth Note: Flying to New York City for a meeting in Manhattan? Did you know that Delta recently paired up with US Helicopter, allowing Delta customers to hop on a helicopter from JFK Airport, and arrive in Manhattan in eight minutes. Looks like the price tag is around $150 each way, but that would be well worth it in certain situations.
Mobile Website:
http://mobile.usablenet.com/mt/http://www.delta.com/home/index.jsp OR
www.delta.com (mobile version will display based on user agent)
May 1st, 2008
When traveling by air, it’s a good idea to save/bookmark/browser the airline’s mobile website in your mobile browser before your travel day. Today we highlight an airline from across the pond.
We’ve covered the American Airlines mobile site, as well as jetBlue. Today, we highlight the KLM (Royal Dutch Airlines) mobile site. Thankfully, KLM acquired the KLM.mobi URL and they now redirect that to their mobile version (the original URL was very long).
This site provides most everything you’d expect from an airline, including mobile check-in, baggage restrictions, flight planners, and contact information. What is notably missing, however, is a real-time flight status. Hopefully they will add that functionality soon, or if I somehow missed it someone please correct me!
Mobile Website:
http://www.klm.mobi
April 24th, 2008
If you have been in an airport recently, or happened to catch the national news in the last 24 hours, you know what a mess it is at airports these days. Airplanes are being grounded by the dozens all over the country. Flights are being canceled. And the airports are no place to be left stranded.
Here’s what an article from CNN.com has to say about it today:
U.S. commercial airlines have grounded over 2,000 flights since late March – including 1,500 this week – in response to failed Federal Aviation Administration safety inspections, leaving hundreds of thousands of passengers delayed or stranded.
The cancellations mainly affected customers of American Airlines, which on Wednesday grounded more than 1,000 flights or 45% of its schedule. That translated into between 110,00 and 140,000 stranded passengers, according to company spokesman Roger Frizzell.
Don’t get stranded. Check your flight status before you head to the airport, from wherever you are, on the Orbtiz mobile website.
What can I do on the Orbitz mobile website?
Orbitz mobile provides flight status information, airline schedules, and hotel search functionality. If you are registered with Orbitz.com, you can also login to view your travel information directly from your mobile phone.
That’s not all. Orbitz also provides a text messaging service, which provides flight status, airport delays, and even airport weather on demand. For example, to find out if flight 372 on American Airlines, you would text the following to “ORBITZ” (or 672489): AA 372
That’s just one example. See their full list of text messaging options here. So before you rush off for your flight and venture into airport hell, do yourself a favor and make sure your airplane isn’t grounded for inspection.
Mobile Website:
http://mobile.orbitz.com
April 9th, 2008
Simon Willison is a smart guy. I can tell from his blog.
On this recent blog post, Simon introduces wikinear.com, a free mobile service that provides information about nearby locations found in Wikipedia. The intriguing aspect is that the service utilizes geolocation to pinpoints your location, then automatically retrieves information about the nearby points of interest found in Wikipedia.
Simon’s idea of how this mobile service came about was interesting:
The idea for the site came from living in Oxford for a year. The city is full of beautiful old historic buildings (many of them colleges), but very few of them are labeled or signposted. With wikinear.com and a GPS hooked up to Fire Eagle, I can pull out my phone and see a list of the closest points of interest, plotted on a handy map.
Technologies used in wikinear.com:
You will need a beta invite to Yahoo! Fire Eagle in order to use the service. I have a few extra invites, so if you need one, send me a note at mobilefreakmobilemammoth.com. First come, first served.
If you are not excited about the potential of mobile apps after reading his summary of not only what wikinear does, but what other mobile services are possible on a tight budget, then you may need a pulse check.
Mobile Website:
http://wikinear.com
March 31st, 2008
Today we highlight a service designed for frequent travelers, which I ran across over at WapReview.
The Dopplr service starts on the desktop, though many features can be utilized from the mobile phone as well. To summarize, you can check out their about page, or read an excerpt from that page below.
Dopplr is an online service for intelligent business travelers.
Dopplr lets you share your future travel plans privately with friends and colleagues. The service then highlights coincidence, for example, telling you that three people you know will be in Paris when you will be there too. You can use Dopplr on your personal computer and mobile phone. It links with online calendars and social networks.
The service has attracted a following among business travelers around the globe. Jimmy Wales of Wikipedia recently named Dopplr his “favorite non-wiki website” in The New York Times Sunday Magazine: “You put in your travel schedule and link to your friends. It allows you to see where everyone is. I love it.”
Any Dopplr users out there want to share their feedback? Let us know how you like it.
Mobile website:
http://m.dopplr.com
March 19th, 2008
My Grandparents were from County Cork and County Roscommon in Ireland, and to this day St. Patrick’s Day is one of my favorite holidays. I think that also has to do with the fact that my birthday was yesterday, and that NCAA March Madness comes around this time of year. In any case, today I’ll cover a mobile website highlighting the great country of Ireland.
What is it?
If you are looking for a good Bed and Breakfast in Ireland, this is the mobile website you’ll need. I must admit the URL (guide-to-ireland.mobi) can be a bit deceiving, as it is specifically for B&B’s and not a more general tourist guide, but the listings are rather comprehensive.
Navigation
You navigate first by region, and then by county within that region of Ireland. Upon selecting a county, a full list of Bed and Breakfast establishments are displayed. Each listing we found included the address, several pictures, and a phone number which makes it very convenient to call them directly.
While I’d imagine most B&B customers are rather finicky about their accommodations, and therefore make reservations well ahead of time, this mobile website is great for people needing to make quick, yet informed decisions about their next stay in Ireland.
Happy St. Patrick’s Day!
Mobile Website:
www.guide-to-ireland.mobi
March 17th, 2008
Want to know how to get from Long Beach to 7th Street on LA’s Metro system? Now you can do it on your way to the Metro station, right from your mobile phone.
Today’s mobile website offers most of the content from the regular website for the LA Metro system, which is managed by the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority. The mobile version offers LA Metro maps, a Metro trip planner, fare information, real-time LA traffic updates, and more. Check it out for yourself below…
(By the way, Long Beach to 7th street is an easy 54 minutes on the Blue Line, and will cost about a buck twenty-five.)
Mobile Website:
http://mobile.usablenet.com/mt/metro.net/default.asp
March 4th, 2008
jetBlue Airways offers a mobile website that lets you track your flight status, review weather delays, and even preview the in-flight entertainment available on jetBlue flights.
The image to the right is a screenshot of the mobile homepage. Like the rest of the jetBlue mobile website, the homepage is simple and clutter-free. The flight status checker allows users to check by either flight number or a combination of airport code and flight time.
Fly airlines other than jetBlue? You can also find links to the American Airlines mobile website or this mobile flight lookup tool for United Airlines and others.
Mobile Website:
http://mobile.jetblue.com
February 11th, 2008
As reported by the San Francisco Chronicle, the BART rail system began letting riders pay with their mobile phones.
Here’s a quote from the article:
The $200,000 pilot project, which will be tested by about 230 riders for the next four months, utilizes a wireless chip that lets people pay by passing their phone over a wireless reader. BART has been using the contact-free technology in its EZ Rider pilot program, which allows riders to pay at the turnstiles by waving a plastic card that has a wireless chip.
It’s great to finally see this in the States. If anyone is one of the 230 participating in the pilot, or you know someone who is, drop us a comment to let us know what you think!
January 31st, 2008
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