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OFFER: Hack your way through the airport with a free 12-month subscription to App in the Air

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This article has been sponsored by App in the Air

A number of smartphone apps have sprung up in recent years which promise to make your flying easier.  The clear leader, in terms of customer numbers, is App in the Air which recently celebrated 5.5 million users.

App in the Air is offering all Head for Points readers a special offer to try it out.  Instead of the standard two week free trial, you will receive a Premium Subscription for a full year (usually £27.99) totally free of charge.

App in the Air – currently ‘Editor’s Choice’ in Apple’s App Store – is a travel assistant app for frequent fliers like you, and is fully compatible with Apple Watch.  Its 5.5 million users can consolidate all flight plans, documentation and travel information in one place and benefit from real time status updates when on the go.

App in the Air can also track your loyalty points balances.  Let it know your account details and it will regularly update your balances in most major airline (including British Airways), hotel and car rental programmes.

Over 1,000 airlines globally are supported, along with detailed information on 5,000 airports.

It is very likely that you already have one or more airline apps on your phone already.  However, App in the Air lets you see all of your upcoming flights in one place, irrespective of airline, as well as providing additional airport features which standard airline apps do not offer.

How App in the Air helps you ‘hack the airport’

App in the Air is designed for today’s growing legion of frequent travellers.  It makes it easy to juggle multiple itineraries and reward programmes, with built-in features and a streamlined interface that take the hassle out of flying.

The app covers the three phases of post-booking travel – pre-trip, day of travel and post-trip.  It keeps track of all itineraries (past, present and future); boarding passes; and frequent-flier programmes connected to the user’s email from across all airlines.

Augmented Reality Luggage Measurement
One interesting feature you may be keen to try out is App in the Air’s AR luggage scanning feature.  Scan your bag with your phone and it will tell you if it is compliant.  The app utilises this technology to make sure all personal, cabin and drop-off luggage bags are within airline size requirements. This feature is easy to use with the in-app camera, which can automatically gauge the size and depth of your bag when you move it in 3D space.

Queue Busting
App in the Air users can track real-time updates from crowdsourced information on airport security wait times throughout any airport. You can also track your boarding and landing times, receive real-time updates for delays and wait times for check-in. This provides a handy way of determining how far in advance you need to arrive at the airport.  The app works offline, with gate changes and flight status updates available by SMS which requires no data roaming.

Airport Information
The app shows reviews for each airport and aircraft, some of which will let you know which terminals to avoid, which check-in counters are the quickest, the wifi status (JFK is always spotty) – even where to get the best pre-flight beer or where to charge your phone.

Connect with other frequent flyers
With over 5.5 million users, and 20 million tracked itineraries, App in the Air’s network is brimming with interesting business travellers, often travelling alone and at times looking for conversation or networking opportunities. The app’s ‘Nearby’ feature prompts users with friendly conversation starters (“let’s grab a coffee?”) and allows you to see nearby flyers’ occupations, travel stats, and their position on the app’s top traveller leader board.

If you are an Apple Watch owner, you benefit from additional features – you can track your current flight and see information on current ‘time to gate’ and security wait times.

App in the Air also tracks your flight history for you.  You can import future and historic flights via integration with TripIt and manually add past flights (or email App in the Air your e-ticket and they will do it for you).  You can track the hours and miles you’ve flown and the airports, airlines and aircraft you’ve used.

Awarding it ‘Editor’s Choice’ in the Apple Store, the editors said:

“Streamlined and easy to use, App in the Air is a fantastic tool for managing your airplane travel.  Plug in any number of flights and you can track boarding and landingtimes, along with current waits for check-in, security and customs.  You’ll also find gate information, airport maps, tips from fellow users and other features that’ll help save time and reduce stress.”

App in the Air is available from Apple’s App Store, Google Play and Samsung Galaxy Store.

How do you get your free App in the Air Premium Subscription?

The app usually comes with a two week free trial, after which you must purchase a Premium Subscription to continue using it.  You don’t need to worry about that.

App in the Air has offered Head for Points readers a free yearly Premium Subscription (worth £27.99).  This gets you access to upgraded features including real-time flight status, offline access, family notifications (your partner can be sent a message about your flight delay or arrival time at the same time as you receive one) and automatic check-ins.

To get your free year, you must download the app by clicking this link.  IMPORTANT: You need to reject the free 14 day trial offer and go straight to the Premium option on installation.  This offer will be available to Head for Points readers until 31st January 2020.

Comments (110)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • ChrisC says:

    no no and thrice no.

    Rob why did you allow yourself to associate your good name – which is now diminished – with this horrible ‘service’ ?

    Did you even try it out before posting about it?

    Will be very reluctant to accept any of your recommendations – on anything – in future.

  • TimM says:

    I don’t like to see blatant US-style marketing on HfP. It is a total turn off.

    • Frankie says:

      You can just turn off then Tim. It’s not mandatory to visit this free website that provides free advice, saves you money and helps you earn avios and airline points.

      • Obi says:

        It’s called feedback. It’s what makes the site better.

        • Prins Polo says:

          +1

          • Rob says:

            It’s a free 12 month trial! If you don’t find it useful – and many do, we went to a big social event they held for users in London recently – then it hasn’t cost you anything. If you do find it useful, you’re benefitting. There is no major downside here.

            We have a very high bar on promoting paid products but we are happy to work with people offering interesting products to our market with a decent free trial period.

        • Bazz says:

          Doesn’t make it better for me. Moaning and polluting the comments section is no use to me.

  • Kev M says:

    Poor article. Terrible app.

    Very disappointed HfP have associated themselves with this outfit. Really not thought through at all.

  • Doug says:

    The download link does not appear on iOS (iphone x )
    It just reads
    ‘ To get your free year, . IMPORTANT: You need to reject….’
    Can we download from the Appstore and still get the free year?

    • Rob says:

      No. What you CAN do is to click the article link on a desktop machine, given them your mobile number and then click the link they text you to download.

  • RussellH says:

    From all the comments, it rather sounds to me that HfP is being used as a debugging aid and/or instruction manual improver, in return for the offer.

    Each to their own, but if I actually had a smartphone, which I do not, this soulds like an excellent argument for getting rid of it!

  • Roy says:

    I’m surprised at the negativity here. I’ve been using App in the Air for the past few months, and been happy with it so far. FWIW, as an existing Tripit user, I get App in the Air to import my flights from Tripit, so I haven’t tried out App in the Air’s own e-mail parsing.

    I find this gives me the best of both worlds: I get Tripit’s support for itinaries that include more than just air (or even don’t include any air travel at all), and I get App in the Air’s support for flight notifications (which seems to be more reliable than Tripit’s).

    roy

  • EC says:

    I have TripIt Pro. Any idea how this is different?

  • Lesley Palmer says:

    I’m a late comer to this having been away. Is this actually an add as if it is, it should be marked as an ad and not simply marked as “sponsored” as that is not considered sufficient by the ASA. I am relaxed about advertorial as long as it is clearly marked which this isn’t so I’m not sure what the postion here is.

    • Rhys says:

      The ASA guidelines don’t provide specific wording marking an advertorial. We call it ‘sponsored content’ and we think that makes it pretty clear! I would compare this to, for example, Vogue / GQ etc where you would only see a line saying ‘Partner Promotion’ in tiny print in the top corner.

    • Rob says:

      I would struggle to differentiate between an ad and a sponsored article which discusses the company at hand. We’re not getting paid for sign-ups. We talk to the ASA – Virgin Money asked us to clarify certain issues with them when we started writing about their credit cards – and they are happy with our approach.

      You need to remember that The Guardian, Daily Mail and most other national newspapers now include affiliate links in their online editorial content. We all follow the same guidelines.

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

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