App in the Air: Top Travel App Reviews

by SourceChild

I want my money back!!!
The sole reason I wanted AppintheAir was because I saw their promotion displaying AA flight info on Apple Watch. Well I found out after paying that a user cannot actually subscribe to AA accounts. So that’s strike 1. Then I was sorely made aware that there are actually dozens of travel service companies that I cannot link to. It was a lie! The big one that hit me today.... The subscription period... The screw you because they do not actually offer a year. Instead they charge for a calendar year and they do not pro rate. So I first signed up mid December. When I found out I was shafted $30 I was angry but figured it was my own bad luck. However today when I was charged another $30 because it’s a new “calendar year” is when I became really angry. AppintheAir is a scam and a piece of crap. It’s false advertisement and a rip off and I’m not only reviewing but reporting to Apple.

by Jimalaiyah

I was super excited to integrate App in the Air into my daily routine. I’m a heavy business traveller. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work. Specifically, it posts flights to my calendar ON THE WRONG DAYS... and AT THE WRONG TIMES. As far as I’m concerned, this falls into the “you had one job” category. It also has cities in the US, which are in the same time zones, categorized in different time zones. Apparently, Raleigh, NC and Miami, FL are in different time zones (they’re not). I had a flight from the US to India show up on completely wrong days, and because I just trusted AppintheAir , I very nearly missed a flight and scheduled a number of meetings around incorrect information at great personal expense and embarrassment.

If you plan to use the automatic calendaring feature, do not use AppintheAir. Maybe it’ll change, but it hasn’t yet. I submitted a support request and got nothing in return. Deleted.

by Gfb1

I was very excited when I first read the reviews and downloaded/opened AppintheAir : great, intuitive, and slick interface, useful data, and the opportunity to upgrade for additional useful features at a reasonable price.

However, I was sadly disappointed by the weak database integration. Well over half of the flights that I wanted to enter did not populate using the airline, flight number, and date; I needed to enter these flights manually, including the time of departure and time of arrival. These were a mix of domestic and international flights, mostly on AA, but also involving other carriers: there was consistently weak access.

Please note that my test of some 10 flights was mostly historic; but, all within the last 2 months.

This is an app that I would love to use. However, it is not yet ready for me.

Update 24 Dec 2017
I keep playing with AppintheAir : I want to find justification to use it. But, unfortunately, my update is to indicate that what I had indicated to be over half of the flights entered did not sync with the database proved to be a gross underestimate. Of the 44 flights that I logged into the system for 2017, no more than six or seven were recognized: all others needed to be entered manually.

by PDelahanty

I tried AppintheAir 5 years ago and left a 2 star review because of some annoying app behavior.
Tried it again (after the developer replied to my FIVE YEAR OLD REVIEW) and am still annoyed. It seems to primarily focus on booking flights. Sorry, but I do that elsewhere and it’s highly unlikely I’ll ever book via AppintheAir. I think it has potential for keeping an interesting history of all my flights, but after entering just two (manually), it messed up. Either AppintheAir read the flight time I entered wrong or I typo’d the times, but there was NO WAY TO EDIT a flight after it’s in. Tried to delete and re-enter, but I couldn’t even delete a flight! It had an orange error warning come up. For something so simple, I’m not impressed that there’s an error that I found after not much usage.

by NotExiled

I downloaded AppintheAir in order to try it out (and had to give my credit card information to do so - very bad) and tried it with a trip I’m on now. The SMS alerts, the part I find most useful, are wrong and annoying. I got a message two days before my flight saying check in was open. It wasn’t until a day before the flight. I received many messages yesterday, the day of my first flight, telling me that the arrival terminal had changed. It hadn’t and one would have been enough. I got one of those at 1:30 in the morning, around 12 hours after I had arrived. During the day yesterday I received this series of messages, in this order: arrival terminal changed, flight landed, status changed to landed, arrival terminal changed, (after 5 hours) flight takes off in 15 minutes, arrival terminal changed, (at 1:30 am) arrival terminal changed.
Too many problems, more annoying than helpful.

by Rfarwell5

Hi, overall, I really enjoy AppintheAir. But I have two major concerns that I hope can be rectified in a future update: (1) I think there should be an option to have “Boarding at Gate XYZ” display on the iPhone and Apple Watch complication BEFORE boarding begins. It’s super unhelpful that Gate information doesn’t appear until it’s literally time to board. (2) As a big aircraft nerd, I’m really disappointed that the “Aircraft” tab of bookings is almost always blank. This is public information, so I do not understand this oversight. It would be really nice to have the Aircraft section actually work, with illustrations of the aircraft model, and also, seat configurations, which I now have to use a separate app for. If these concerns were addressed, I’d gladly rate AppintheAir 5 stars instead of 3.5 (which rounds down to 3).

by G-Mo

Automatic checkin was really handy on my first check in, but on my second it changed my pre-selected “main cabin extra” seat 8A to 25C (which shouldn’t even have been possible if I *didnt* have a pre-assigned seat given my auto checkin preferences). That makes auto check-in useless (I had to go into the American app and reselect my seat, which was fortunately still available). For flight info and updates it’s handy: automatically detected my reservations from my email so there was no data entry. It didn’t pick up the correct seat assignment from my American Airlines reservations (e.g. 12F instead of 12B somehow on one flight), but it was easy enough to edit that, and I’d use my boarding pass on the plane anyway. It also let me know about a lounge at STL I didn’t know about before, although it wasn’t in the terminal I was going to. It’s managed to replace Kayak as my source of flight info, although Kayak is free. I hope auto checkin gets more reliable, because it would be handy if I could trust it to not thoroughly screw up my prepaid seat assignment.

by Wag5000

I’ve been using (and paying for AppintheAir) since 2015. I tell everyone about it and I’ve loved tracking my work flights.
A lot of the recent UI changes look nice on the surface but they’ve limited old functionality.
- Why can I no longer see the flight number on the “My Trips” page without clicking on the trip. I fly on a few different airlines and I would use that at a glance to see which airline the trip was on and how long my layovers were
- The map no longer shows which routes you fly the most. They used to be color coded. Now everything is white
- The video time lapse at the end of the year used to be the coolest feature. When I posted it on Facebook, tons of coworkers were interested in trying AppintheAir themselves. A few years ago the developer changed it to a giant map of the globe. I only fly in the US for work, so the video map looks silly now. I wish it would only show the parts of the world you fly in.

by DocNartman

I fly >100k miles a year with a mix of international and domestic destinations. AppintheAir is great to predict potential delays and also track my overall progress and other stats (types of planes, milestones, etc). The only negative is how it displays the current flight status as tiles where I have to swipe to see the anticipated arrival gate, etc and the location of the plane midnight doesn’t provide a map since I’m not hooked up to the internet. This is where Tripit and FlightRadar24 best AppintheAir out respectively. Tripit provides a really quick snapshot of what I have to do and where I need to go. While FlightRadar pretty much provides near real time data on the plane among other things. True, flightradar also needs WiFi, but it provides far more useful information when connected such as weather along the flight path, where other flights are coming from, etc. I typically use AppintheAir, flightradar, and Tripit to predict delays. I wish there was one app.

by K. M. Peterson

Very handy. However, I have the impression that to fully utilize the functionality it needs a _lot_ of sensitive access - for example, I found its import from Tripit wasn’t complete when I added plans to Tripit after my initial connection to the service. That is all I’m willing to give it now.

Also, it’s kind of a hacker’s playground. I see the features, but I’m too technical to want to find out what doesn’t work without knowing how things are implemented before I spend time (and get “locked in” to) a new thing. I wish the documentation was better, but I realize that most people will just be sold on it and give it a try without my level of expectations and privacy concerns. To wit:

I’m wary about letting any app simply try to parse through my email continually looking for travel receipts. If it is possible (and it may be, but wasn’t obvious) to set up an address just from which plans could be email-forwarded (as with Tripit) it would be a fine alternative. If I were paying for Tripit’s subscription features, and it was clear I could set up an address as mentioned above (accept and process forwarded mail, but you aren’t getting credentials to pull from that account), I’d be very inclined to drop Tripit for App In The Air, but my needs at this point don’t justify it.

I like AppintheAir , wish you luck, and will look forward to seeing it get better.

by Chris1Kit2

I had a great flight tracker app that went defunct and I've been searching for a replacement. This is it! I receive updates for flights as they happen, gate changes, and baggage claim information. On other apps they use Google Maps for the airport maps and that drives me crazy. this app has stand alone maps which are easy to use and load immediately. They also give me info about shops and restaurants in the terminals. AppintheAir does everything I was having to use multiple apps for. I am very satisfied with it and will probably buy the lifetime pay version!

by Markbyrn

I’ve been using App in the Air for around 8 years and great to see the developers offering enhancements such as being able to book flight and hotels. Initially I was not impressed with the hotel booking as it seemed the prices were higher than dedicated travel sites like Priceline. However in consulting with support, they told me the price listed is the total price including taxes and that almost always beats the other sites - I'd suggest adding a note to that effect. Another new enhancement is a C02 offset donation feature has been added to the profile tab. Nice concept in principal but many airlines (esp. International Flights) already offset emissions under a UN agreement or the customer voluntarily pays an offset when booking. Also, I often use AppintheAir to track other people’s flights and so it's not MY carbon footprint. I'd rather see a different enhancement such as an airport flight board.

by Skbzzz

Updating review:

Back to emailing easily and using AppintheAir daily. They changed the email address to send itineraries to and I did not get any notice. But they reached out to me and gave me new address so all good. This is a fun app to keep track of your travel.

This used to be my favorite app and I switched from tripIt because this one was fun. BUT about 2 months ago, it can no longer import by forwarding the confirmation emails from American or delta. It used to be able to do this, but no longer. So options now are fill out this spreadsheet first that they provide or give them access to my entire inbox. No thank you. Going back to trip it.

by QuantumCommando

Been using AppintheAir for several years now, though I don’t travel much. I love the clean UI, just the ability to track flights alone is super nice. Love that it has consistently improved in UI, features, and support consistently. To have everything in one place and not miss updates on flights from different airlines is a huge stress reliever.

I love that there is a lifetime subscription option, to avoid annoying subscriptions which is what I opted for and younger competitors don’t offer.

I personally encountered an annoying bug with Sign In with Apple in AppintheAir a long while ago. I reached out to the devs and Alex from support personally conversed with me over email quickly after. They said they would fix it and I forgot about it. Admittedly a long while later they did fix it! Funny enough I saw it in the update notes and wondered if it related to my issue and shortly later Alex followed up saying personally they fixed it. Thanks everyone!

by Derpoet

Update: Actually more of a request, since I’ve noticed the developers read reviews. I would love to be able to select which alerts/notifications AppintheAir sends. There are SO MANY, starting as early as three days before departure. I’d love a menu that would let me pick and choose what alerts pop up on my phone.
Still a five star app, without question.
Thank you.

Original review: I’m doing a new review after several updates. I’m really happy with AppintheAir—it keeps getting better. It’s base function is to keep track of all my flights, including airlines that don’t play well together.
It feeds me gate info, gate and time changes, once it even let me know a flight had been cancelled before the airline did.
The interface with the Apple Watch is great too. The “complication” on the watch is surprisingly helpful. Pretty much tells you where to go next and how long you have. Haven’t tried the automatic checkin yet, but I appreciate the alert when it’s time to checkin online.

by Ash-01

I was researching what apps to use for my upcoming trip to Florida and I had a layover so I figured it was best to be prepared Incase any gate changes happens. AppintheAir was the best thing I’ve ever downloaded because the day before I was flying out, it already had what gate my flight was departing from. The best thing was that the night before the flight it told me what gate and number my flight was departing from, what gate my flight was landing at, and what gate + number my other flight was departing from. Not even the own airline had all of that information!! The airline just told me the basics like what gate Im supposed to be at, not the number. Will definitely remember AppintheAir whenever I’m flying. Thank you so much, don’t know how you guys get that information but it’s very useful!!

by Khalil Albinkhalil

I found out about AppintheAir by an ad before 2 years ago and i had a flight from Bahrain to Bangkok with one stop in Dubai.

Before i was leaving my home I received a notification about the whole flight from BAH to BKK with the gates and the timing.

When i was at Dubai airport sitting near my gate before the boarding time I received a notification from AppintheAir that the gate was changed BEFORE the screen even changed or the gate was sitting near it changed the flight number. So I went to the employees at the gate and told them what happened and the said don’t worry it’s a mistake and this is the right gate. Then the screen changed but the gate didn’t change the flight number so I asked again and they said the same.

So i went to the new gate and saw that it’s the real gate now so I rushed back and spoke with the people waiting near the old gate doesn’t know that they gonna miss the flight bc of last call and Dubai is a silent airport that doesn’t announce it or speakers.

Also the employees at the old gate was trying to make everyone wait bc it was a system mistake and the gates wasn’t changed.

So I trust AppintheAir for my travels from that day.

by Gilamath

Look, planes are hard. I’ve been flying my whole life, and I’ve seen both best-case and worst-case scenarios in air travel. You can never guarantee the best, but App in the Air gives you the tools to avoid the worst. Ticket info, boarding pass, flight times, delays, local weather and traffic conditions, airport/airline info, and especially travel timelines are all necessary to have, but keeping track of it all (and more) is awfully stressful. App in the Air does it all for you, meaning you have less to worry about. I figured out for myself through repeated failure that worry is its own sort of baggage on airplanes. It’s cumbersome, unnecessary, and should be minimized wherever possible. To that end, App in the Air is a flyer’s best friend!

by PhilipCardwell

App in The Air is my second favorite travel app ever (the first, and in my opinion the best is Flighty). While most of the REALLY good travel apps have “upped their game”, App in The Air and Flighty have gone above and beyond to stand out and supply you information that is not only useful, but also necessary, accurate and nicely displayed.

I’m a premium subscriber to both apps and I believe that paying for the premium subscriptions is well worth it, if you fly more than a couple of times a year. It’s also worth noting that the “really good” travel apps (such as these) spend a lot of money to provide their apps with the timely and accurate data feeds that provide the end user (that’s me and you) with all of this detailed travel information that we’re seeing.

by Cainj537

For starters, app in the air is easy to use, has a very clean interface, and is incredible organized. Being able to add your loyalty numbers into AppintheAir is very helpful. Every time I book a trip it sees it and adds it to the “my trips” page. I love looking at all my future flights, it’s a way for me to look forward to all my future travels! I love the map where it shows all the routes I’ve flown, as well as stats of airports I’ve visited, aircraft types I’ve flown, and airlines I’ve flown. It’s all very interactive and organized. I love it! On the day of travel you get helpful notifications. For example before my flight I get a notification saying when I should leave for the airport in order to arrive two hours prior to departure. Very helpful! Overall I love App in The Air! If your a traveler it’s for you!

by Dk379

The goal of this review is to communicate to developers what works and what doesn’t.

Overall it’s a nice app and annual subscription is worth it. Let me start from good things: automatic search by origin-destination, flight number. Reminders. Map of flights on globe.

Now for broken or disfunctional:

After update white theme has too much of flight info, only 2 flights fit on big XR screen. In comparison, older version fits 3 flights on 6s.

Always forgets my personal passport number and sometimes asks for “National ID” (don’t have it) in addition to passport number/expire.

If you paste PNR (6 letters) from email it adds space by itself then complains it’s malformed.

Automatic checkin works with major airlines but hit or miss with Wizz Air with no warning.

No search or filter by date or city. Shame.

Most important and this is why 3 stars and not 4: they killed automatic calendar update!
I was relying on App in the Air to add those quite useful calendar entries, with reminders to leave for airport. Now it’s gone! My older iPhone 6: still has previous “blue theme” app and it works.

by Ramseju

Recently resolved a big issue with app by learning that by default App in the Air is installed with iCloud sync active by default. If you also sync your iCalendar with ur iCloud account, App in the Air will pull in all of the flights (going back years) from your calendar and will put them into an “Unsorted” status. Then, you’ll have to manually disposition all of those flights bc AppintheAir doesn’t know if the trip was your trip or that of another person. In my case, AppintheAir had 668 unsorted flights. Uff!!! To resolve, I had to delete AppintheAir , reinstall, turn off iCloud sync for AppintheAir and then re-link it with Trip-It. I can see why AppintheAir may need to link with iCloud if you manually add flights...this way ur data is safe. But if your flight data comes from other sources (emails, TripIt, etc), having iCloud sync enabled can cause a lot of data and performance issues.

by Armaced

I don’t fully understand all of the features yet, but I love the integration with the Apple watch when trying to get between gates.

Note - I had previously written a harsh review due to some double charges, but Apple eventaully gave me a refund, so I am updating my review. Just be careful: If you subscribe to the 14 day trial, then decide to opt for the lifetime subscription, you WILL still be charged for the Annual subscription when the trial has ended. Also, trying to get a refund out of Apple involves negotiating a lot of dead ends, but ultimately paid off.

It appears that none of my issues were the fault of App In The Air.

by Adrian8572mac

It was my first time using AppintheAir. It's absolutely amazing (on iphone and watch..sometimes on watch when you open AppintheAir directly from "complication" it's say "add flight from iphone" and you have to completely close the ⌚️ app and opening again. But overall I'm really glad that I've install AppintheAir. It's even works "offline " with airplane mode activated on both devices still works (iphone widget and complication on ⌚️ it's showing how much time left until landing or departing). Thank you all the team who's working on this beautiful app that actually works.