Air Canada iPhone app
Aug 24, 2009, 3:53 pm
#61
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Calgary, AB, Canada AC Elite, SPG Plat, CO Onepass Gold
Posts: 61
Haven't used these ones, but there are:
Lufthansa link
British Airways link
Cathay link
I haven't tried out any of these ones, so I can't say how they compare to what AC launched. IMO the really good air travel apps out there right now are the third party ones (FlightTrack, FlightTrack Pro, TripIt, TravelTracker Pro, Worldmate, Worldmate Gold, etc.). There's also a pretty good seat map app (Airline Seat Guide) that works offline, as in when in "airplane mode"!
My personal fave is a combination of TripIt and FlightTrack Pro. My Blackberry friends are all hooked on Worldmate. I obviously would never expect for an AC app to do all that the TripIts or Worldmates of the world can do (although users of those tools never have to enter their own flight info manually, even if flying AC!
Other travel companies (such as Starwood Preferred Guest) do have all of the user's individual past and future reservations instantly viewable in their iPhone app.
Lufthansa link
British Airways link
Cathay link
I haven't tried out any of these ones, so I can't say how they compare to what AC launched. IMO the really good air travel apps out there right now are the third party ones (FlightTrack, FlightTrack Pro, TripIt, TravelTracker Pro, Worldmate, Worldmate Gold, etc.). There's also a pretty good seat map app (Airline Seat Guide) that works offline, as in when in "airplane mode"!
My personal fave is a combination of TripIt and FlightTrack Pro. My Blackberry friends are all hooked on Worldmate. I obviously would never expect for an AC app to do all that the TripIts or Worldmates of the world can do (although users of those tools never have to enter their own flight info manually, even if flying AC!
Other travel companies (such as Starwood Preferred Guest) do have all of the user's individual past and future reservations instantly viewable in their iPhone app.
Last edited by YYC Guy; Aug 24, 2009 at 4:13 pm
Aug 24, 2009, 6:07 pm
#63
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: YEG
Posts: 3,925
On my recent trip to Australia I used the Qantas app. I do think that the AC app is better, or at least has the potential to be. If AC had only added the functionality of looking up the bookings in one's profile (and using this to populate the flight tracker), the app would have been much better received. The bells and whistles of the app will be great but IMHO when you miss something so basic, it defeats the purpose of the advanced functions.
The Qantas app allows you to look up individual itins by reference number, but AFAIK not all bookings in one's profile. I do not recall if there was the ability to check in and I don't think there were any notifications.
When searching for flight options the QF app showed the same options as the website, including connecting flights. For some of the routes I've searched only non-stop routes are shown or a small selection of connecting flights are shown.
The QF app provides a list of lounges/locations/etc for all cities served by QF.
The Qantas app allows you to look up individual itins by reference number, but AFAIK not all bookings in one's profile. I do not recall if there was the ability to check in and I don't think there were any notifications.
When searching for flight options the QF app showed the same options as the website, including connecting flights. For some of the routes I've searched only non-stop routes are shown or a small selection of connecting flights are shown.
The QF app provides a list of lounges/locations/etc for all cities served by QF.
Aug 25, 2009, 12:36 pm
#64
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: YOW
Programs: AC-SE, SPG-P
Posts: 99
nice to see
Glad they are keeping pace on the IT front. I have downloaded it. It's not too bad - makes it a lot easier to book my Flight Pass bookings than using the straight browser function. Good on them
Aug 25, 2009, 12:48 pm
#65
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: YUL
Posts: 2,283
Aug 25, 2009, 1:26 pm
#66
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: YYC
Programs: AC*SE, Priority Club Platinum
Posts: 108
Two issues from my perspective:
1) Not being able to keep only one or two segments of a multisegment flight such as AC 118 YYC-YOW-YHZ-YYT. I am only flying YYC-YHZ and cannot delete the last leg. This is true for 09/02
2) Flights such as AC 184/185 which run YYC-YHZ are only showing up as YYC-YVR. This is true for 12/22 & 12/27
1) Not being able to keep only one or two segments of a multisegment flight such as AC 118 YYC-YOW-YHZ-YYT. I am only flying YYC-YHZ and cannot delete the last leg. This is true for 09/02
2) Flights such as AC 184/185 which run YYC-YHZ are only showing up as YYC-YVR. This is true for 12/22 & 12/27
Aug 25, 2009, 2:06 pm
#67
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: YOW
Programs: AC-SE, SPG-P
Posts: 99
Maybe more clear - book flights within my Flight Pass/Using my flight pass. I have not purchased a FLight Pass on the App and not sure if you can but in the "More" Tab there is a Flight Pass Section... if that helps
Aug 25, 2009, 2:29 pm
#68
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: The World
Programs: WS Platinum, Marriott Titanium, DL Gold, UA Silver
Posts: 1,478
Anyone want to hazard a guess as to when AC and/or IBM will be fixing and updating the App?
It's probably three different sets of fixes:
1. Integration/synching with the user's bookings in order to get over the stupidity of having to tell the AC app what flights you're taking. (An absolute necessity, but may be a big one technically)
2. Fix all of the bugs -- probably a dozen different ones mentioned in this thread and in iTunes reviews
3. Add new resources (like a global lounge directory) that increase the app's usefulness. Actual useful stuff rather than silly things like links to Google and yellowpages.ca
(IMHO, all of the above should have been done/fixed before it was launched to the public in the first place. Then again, I think we all now realize that AC had different App expectations than us customers did.)
I predict #2 will happen relatively soon (early fall maybe). I think #1 and #3 will come -- eventually. They'll be a long way off though.
The reason: the development team would have already moved on to a new project (a Blackberry replica of this dud, if I had to bet!) before the app was even released to the public in iTunes. They're likely not coming back to do anything major to the iphone app anytime soon.
I also wonder if AC will follow the lead of other app developers and communicate update and enhancement plans to users in advance of them showing up in the app store. (Some, like mobiata and Tripit, are great at communicating with their app users.). I do hope so, but customer communication hasn't exactly been an AC strength in the past.
It's probably three different sets of fixes:
1. Integration/synching with the user's bookings in order to get over the stupidity of having to tell the AC app what flights you're taking. (An absolute necessity, but may be a big one technically)
2. Fix all of the bugs -- probably a dozen different ones mentioned in this thread and in iTunes reviews
3. Add new resources (like a global lounge directory) that increase the app's usefulness. Actual useful stuff rather than silly things like links to Google and yellowpages.ca
(IMHO, all of the above should have been done/fixed before it was launched to the public in the first place. Then again, I think we all now realize that AC had different App expectations than us customers did.)
I predict #2 will happen relatively soon (early fall maybe). I think #1 and #3 will come -- eventually. They'll be a long way off though.
The reason: the development team would have already moved on to a new project (a Blackberry replica of this dud, if I had to bet!) before the app was even released to the public in iTunes. They're likely not coming back to do anything major to the iphone app anytime soon.
I also wonder if AC will follow the lead of other app developers and communicate update and enhancement plans to users in advance of them showing up in the app store. (Some, like mobiata and Tripit, are great at communicating with their app users.). I do hope so, but customer communication hasn't exactly been an AC strength in the past.
Aug 25, 2009, 3:21 pm
#69
Join Date: Feb 2007
Programs: AC Elite
Posts: 592
The best time AC could have spent would have to get a few users here to beta test their app. That would have meant very little money invested, but plenty of return on investment... It is funny how corporations don't seem to understand how to leverage the many talents of people willing to help for little money...
Aug 26, 2009, 2:28 pm
#70
Join Date: Aug 2009
Posts: 1
We are listening
Keep the great ideas and feedback coming. We are listening and so are the folks from Air Canada Customer Service Platform (CSP) Team. They have a twitter page for you to direct your comments at http://twitter.com/aircanadacsp. Also the iPhone app provides an email address for feedback as well, [email protected]. Looking forward to roll out lot more goodies in upcoming versions to further satisfy the frequent flyers 
Aug 31, 2009, 9:27 pm
#72
Join Date: Aug 2009
Posts: 8
The update text says Aeroplan now in the settings to auto fill checkin and a timezone bug fix. Nice to see such a quick update. Hopefully this means more Aeroplan features soon.
Aug 31, 2009, 9:55 pm
#73
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: YUL
Posts: 2,283
Aug 31, 2009, 10:13 pm
#74
Join Date: Aug 2009
Posts: 8
I subscribe to this thread and obviously have an iPhone so I got "YEG's" post pretty much right away and saw that there was an update.
You do know that there's a "What New in This Version" section on iTunes right? It's not that hard to figure out what's new if you take the time to read.
You do know that there's a "What New in This Version" section on iTunes right? It's not that hard to figure out what's new if you take the time to read.
Aug 31, 2009, 10:18 pm
#75
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: YUL
Posts: 2,283
I subscribe to this thread and obviously have an iPhone so I got "YEG's" post pretty much right away and saw that there was an update.
You do know that there's a "What New in This Version" section on iTunes right? It's not that hard to figure out what's new if you take the time to read.
You do know that there's a "What New in This Version" section on iTunes right? It's not that hard to figure out what's new if you take the time to read.
Yea I know where to find it.