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New ‘App in the Air’ features makes post-Corona travel easier – and a free offer for healthcare staff

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This article has been sponsored by App in the Air

With some countries easing their travel restrictions, others not letting anyone in, flights increasing in some places and holiday cancellations in others there are currently a lot of questions when it comes to travel post-Corona.

‘Where can I go?’, ‘Do I have to quarantine?’, ‘What health declaration forms do I have to fill out?’, and ‘What are the cancellation policies of various airlines?’ are just a few of the questions that App in the Air will help answer with two newly released features.

If you haven’t heard of App in the Air and you are a frequent traveller, you might want to check out the app before you plan your next trip.

App in the Air describes itself as an all-in-one personal travel assistant app for frequent fliers.  You can find it on the App Store, on Google Play and in the Galaxy Store. The app is also 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.

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

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, hotel and car rental programmes.

How App in the Air helps you navigate post-Corona travels

According to App in the Air founder and CEO Bayram Annakov, knowing what to expect before leaving for the airport will make air travel better not only for frequent fliers but for the airlines, airports and destinations serving them:

“Predictability and preparation, from knowing what is needed ahead of the trip such as: the necessity of a completed health declaration form, to understanding specific airline cancellation policies, will help fliers returning to the skies have better experiences. Knowledge means choice. Our new tools will help app users understand the travel situation as it is and make real-time decisions based on their comfort levels.”

Here are the new features:

Country-to-Country Travel Restrictions Guide

App in the Air has created a landing page where users can get airline or country specific travel information. This works on desktop as well as on the mobile app and users do not have to be Premium subscribers to access this information.

Simply enter the departure and arrival country to check their policies.

app in the air

The website is updated regularly with official updates including government restrictions, airline and airport rules as well as everything else you need to travel safely.  It is recommended to monitor the website in the days leading up to your flight.

On & off the ground intelligence

A further feature is user-sourced information sharing which will help keep on top of last minute changes like lounge or shop closures. It also helps reassure travellers by providing feedback about airlines, airports and letting others know what to expect when travelling during these special times.

This feature is also complimentary for all app users.

App in the air

How to get the app

App in the Air is available on the App Store, on Google Play and in the Galaxy Store. There is a free version and a Premium version with a number of features to make your life as a traveller even easier.

The basic version let’s you

  • store your history of flights – they are displayed on a map with detailed statistics
  • display your accumulated miles from various loyalty programmes
  • collect badges from locations you have visited
  • get compensation for flight delays

In addition the two new post-Corona features are also included in the free version.

For an annual subscription fee of £29.49 you can get further useful features with the Premium version:

  • Augmented Reality Luggage Measurement – Scan your bag with your phone and it will tell you if it is compliant.
  • Queue Busting – 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. (The app works offline, with gate changes and flight status updates available by SMS which requires no data roaming.)
  • Airport Information – Find 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 don’t want to commit to an annual subscription just yet, you can test the Premium version of the app 14 days for free.

Free lifetime subscription for healthcare staff

If you are a healthcare worker, you can get Premium for free! To promote these new features and the (gradual!) resumption of air travel, App in the Air will provide healthcare staff with a free lifetime premium subscription to the service.

Healthcare workers can download the app and then upload their medical identification here for verification to get their account upgraded, for free, for life.

User privacy is very important to App in the Air. While there is an option to connect email to sync your trips, you can opt out at any time. We also provide several alternative ways to sync your trips: adding them manually, via TripIt or emailing myflight@appintheair.mobi

Category

General

Comments (40)

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

  • ChrisC says:
    10 Jul10 July 04:33

    Article says free to ‘healthcare workers’ but if you have to upload a ‘medical identification’ to get the free premium service then that excludes a huge number of staff in the healthcare sector because they have no medical identification because they aren’t medical staff.

    So are they offering it to anyone who works in healthcare which would include nurses and physios and pharmacists and admin staff and care home staff and home helps or just to doctors?

    • Alan says:
      10 Jul10 July 08:05

      Their site says “If you’re in healthcare, please complete the form below and provide verification to unlock this plan” so it doesn’t sound restricted to doctors at all to me.

      • ChrisC says:
        11 Jul11 July 00:05

        The form linked to on th last sentence of the article says this

        “User safety is our priority, which is why we’re making our lifetime subscription free for all medical workers in the field.”

        And is headed

        “App in the Air: Medical Worker Verification”

        So is it doctors only or any healthcare worker?

        • Rob says:
          11 Jul11 July 09:25

          Send in an ID and see what happens, I guess.

        • Nikita Kosholkin says:
          15 Jul15 July 13:51

          Hi Chris, we accept medical workers as well, not only doctors. Nikita from App in the Air

    • Rhys says:
      10 Jul10 July 08:46

      Don’t all those people carry NHS id? I know my mother, a nurse, does.

    • Graeme says:
      10 Jul10 July 09:55

      I wouldn’t overthink ‘medical identification’ – I’ve got NHS ID.

      • Julian says:
        10 Jul10 July 10:29

        And is there a reason why we should be surprised that you have this ID?

        • Graeme says:
          10 Jul10 July 15:51

          No, I just mean that not every NHS employee is ‘medical’. We’re still ‘healthcare workers’.

  • Sue says:
    10 Jul10 July 07:30

    There is also TripIt which I have been using for a number of years. It’s excellent and also has a Pro version which is chargeable. The standard version is free and includes lots of information and features. You just forward your booking confirmation to the app and it does the rest.

    • ADS says:
      11 Jul11 July 14:22

      I use TripIt for every trip – just by forwarding confirmation emails (no need to give it access to your email account)

      It reads almost all emails correctly (fails on some car hire agency bookings)

      Great for double checking that you haven’t mixed up airports / months / years !

  • BS says:
    10 Jul10 July 07:38

    I remember being very concerned over privacy with this app last time. They wanted full access to my email account, which I was not prepared to give

    • Joe N says:
      10 Jul10 July 08:26

      Yeah this is what stopped me signing up too. There doesn’t seem to be a way to just create an account with them, you have to give them access to another account you already use elsewhere.

      • ChrisBCN says:
        10 Jul10 July 08:30

        I’ve just set it up on Android and denied them access to my email. You can connect your frequent flyer scheme or forward confirmation emails to them. They picked up one of my emailed flights, but were unable to recognise details in an easyJet booking email.

        Time will tell if this app proves it’s worth the hassle – although maybe I will set up an auto redirect from my email to them hmmm

        • Nikita Kosholkin says:
          15 Jul15 July 13:52

          Hi Chris, yes, you don’t need to connect email account. You can add flights manually, from Loyalty Program or forward at just@add.flights Let me know if you have any questions. Nikita

    • Rhys says:
      10 Jul10 July 08:47

      You don’t have to connect your email. The app normally trawls your email to add flight bookings, but I was able to add all mine manually.

    • Graeme says:
      10 Jul10 July 09:56

      I’ve just connected TripIt rather than my e-mail. Works well.

  • ankomonkey says:
    10 Jul10 July 07:54

    “…see nearby flyers’ occupations…” This feature alone could provide endless entertainment!

    • the_real_a says:
      10 Jul10 July 15:34

      Ive always been curious as to what those people who march around lounged speaking loudly into their phones actually do…

  • Matt says:
    10 Jul10 July 08:23

    I can’t see how to find the Country-to-Country Travel Restrictions Guide – is it through the app or the website?

  • Julian says:
    10 Jul10 July 09:25

    I think the term post COVID-19 or post COVID should have been used rather than post Corona.

    Aside from being a mainly not very harmful series of cold and flu type viruses (apart from this particular one) those of us a certain age will also associate the term Corona with a rather amusingly marketed in tv adverts fizzy drink of the 1970s (watch the ad at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nue8j_52M6Q) as well as in more recent times with a somewhat less imaginatively marketed Mexican beer and in addition is also a term for the sun’s outermost atmosphere that becomes most important and can be seen clearly during a Total Eclipse (the only one I have seen personally being in Northern France on August 11th 1999, where unlike Cornwall it wasn’t cloudy and rainy but instead the clouds cleared a few minutes before the eclipse).

    With respect to this App all of these products make their money by accessing and re-vending your data (WhatsApp being probably the most well known, inttrusive and aggressive example of this phenomenon) so the question is does the App really benefit you more than the threat to your data security and privacy. Also what financial benefit (if any) does HeadForPoints earn in terms of the number of new customers the App may gain by clicking through to it from this website and to what extent does that click thru income diminish the possible journalistic integrity of this website in terms of accurately assessing and promoting the App’s benefits to its own customers? Also I don’t know in what capacity HeadForPoints is operating in making such recommendations as it would not appear to be that of a Credit Broker in this particular case.

    I’m also a little confused as to why Anika wrote this article but all the questions about it have now seemingly been handed over to Rhys to deal with?

    • Rob says:
      10 Jul10 July 09:28

      Anika’s in bed, it’s 4am! Although perhaps not, given the baby …

      We don’t get paid for sign-ups, we just get a flat fee for the article.

      WhatsApp, in Europe, doesn’t touch your data or pass anything to Facebook by the way AFAIK. It’s different in the US I believe.

      • Yolo says:
        10 Jul10 July 09:54

        Out of curiosity – Rob, now that Anika lives in the US she’s no longer a UK tax resident, is she? Have you rehired her as freelancer?

        Asking for a friend exploring their options on full remote jobs…

        • Rob says:
          10 Jul10 July 09:59

          Yes. She is on a freelance contract because I didn’t want any exposure to US tax or employment regulations.

      • Julian says:
        10 Jul10 July 09:58

        They must still use your data to connect you with other WhatsApp users but I suppose you are saying they don’t sell it on to third parties to use or misuse as they see fit…………..

    • LB says:
      10 Jul10 July 09:36

      Just watched the Corona advert…I’m 7years old again!

    • Julian says:
      10 Jul10 July 09:38

      It appears that Corona Orangeade was later rebranded as Tango at some point after its acquisition by Britvic in 1987. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tango_(drink)

      Not absolutely sure who did the voiceover in the original tv advert, although it certainly sounds like Phil Silvers of Sgt Bilko tv series fame but it is probably isn’t him……

      I would be tempted to post some more links to Corona fizzy drink history websites if that wasn’t going to get my post classified as potential spam and so not published here for many hours…………..

  • Julian says:
    10 Jul10 July 09:51

    It seems that I missed the earlier news about Corona beer production being halted by the Mexican government (see http://www.thesun.co.uk/news/11318945/corona-beer-production-suspended-coronavirus/) due to the COVID-19 (AKA Corona Virus) pandemic, even though since November 2019 it has in fact been brewed in the UK by Anheuser-Busch

  • Nori says:
    10 Jul10 July 10:33

    Great deal to NHS staff, like myself. Will move from the free Award Wallet version to the paid (free to NHS staff) App in the Air. Sounds like a no brainer.
    Just to note, in case someone isn’t aware. A lifetime membership means for the lifetime of the company/app, not the lifetime of the customer 🙂

    • Julian says:
      10 Jul10 July 10:40

      They will get round the Lifetime commitment by coming up with another App in a due course that the Lifetime on this App does not apply to.

      As a Lifetime Subscription Tivo Series 1 UK customer (now gathering dust) I am very sceptical about all Lifetime subscription offers……………

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