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Apple Watch Brings Flight and Airline Apps to Your Wrist

TravelingMac said:
That's precisely my point. I always fly with my phone. A watch that requires my phone for full functionality isn't simplifying my life, it's redundant. Until technology advances enough to create an independent watch that has wireless, bluetooth LE, and in the distant future cellular, there's little need for this device. When it "replaces" my iPhone (bluetooth piece would be required), you'll have my attention.

Good luck traveling, especially internationally. Add another charging cable/mechanism to your arsenal along with international adapters and if you have an iPad and a notebook you'll need a case just for your cables and chargers.

It's an impressive piece and with time I'm certain it will open more doors, but I don't want to add more "things", most would rather simplify. :)
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Suit yourself but I don't think it's easy to pull luggage AND hold onto a phone at the same time. Not to mention that I usually keep my phone in my purse. I know you only think about things from a man's point of view but many women don't keep their phones in a pocket, if they even have large enough or ANY pockets available to do so.

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Rigby said:
Mobile check-in and electronic boarding passes are really useful. I've used them extensively in the last couple of years and it has saved me a lot of time and waiting in line. What I find questionable is the benefit of moving some part of this functionality to a watch. I wouldn't strap a paper boarding pass around my wrist either. ;)
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Here's my set of actions if I use my iPhone as a boarding pass:

Get the pass ready on my phone and try to keep it awake until I get up to the gate so I'm not fumbling to get back to the screen and holding up the line

Place it on the reader

While pulling my carryon and going down the ramp, I try to put the phone back in my purse because it's too hard to put my bag in the overhead with my phone in my hand. Since I'm moving and only have one hand free, this is difficult.

OR

Keep my phone in my hand and toss it onto my seat before putting my bag in the overhead, hoping that it doesn't land on the floor underneath the seats. Obviously, I don't normally do this version.

A watch with the pass would make this process MUCH simpler. Since when are people against hands-free functionalities?
 
laurim said:
I know you only think about things from a man's point of view
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I'm sorry, have we met? I don't recall but thanks for making an assumption that a) I'm a guy and b) I think only from a man's perspective.

Irony is clearly lost here.
 
TravelingMac said:
I'm sorry, have we met? I don't recall but thanks for making an assumption that a) I'm a guy and b) I think only from a man's perspective.

Irony is clearly lost here.
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Who's that in your profile pic? Looks like a man to me ;) I apologize if I'm wrong.

Ok, I should have been more specific but I assume when you say it has no use when people carry a phone in a pocket you are looking at it from not using a purse as most men don't carry purses. I guess a man can carry a backpack or briefcase and keep there phone there, which is similar to a purse but not. So I guess you may have me there.

Back to my point, people who don't carry an iPhone in their pocket or see that even then, it's more convenient to have info on one's wrist would disagree with you. So, yeah, you're only thinking about you and by default at a man's point of view. So don't judge people who aren't you and open your mind to the possibility that some people don't want to constantly pull out a phone to read things. I don't know why a person would want yet another thing with its own data plan fees and its own phone number to give to people (that's what "independent of the phone" means right now) but to each their own. Not to mention that making it independent would make it more likely to need frequent upgrades since it wouldn't benefit from a phone upgrade anymore.
 
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laurim said:
Ok, I should have been more specific but I assume when you say it has no use when people carry a phone in a pocket you are looking at it from not using a purse as most men don't carry purses. I guess a man can carry a backpack, which is similar to a purse but not. So I guess you may have me there.

Back to my point, people who don't carry an iPhone in their pocket or see that even then, it's more convenient to have info on one's wrist would disagree with you. So, yeah, you're only thinking about you and by default at a man's point of view. So don't judge people who aren't you.
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You do realize your iPhone needs to be in close proximity with the watch in order to use wireless services and many other features the watch offers, right? NFC being one which requires very close proximity in order to verify Apple :apple: transactions. If your iPhone is buried deep in a bag or purse (I do carry mine in a field bag with my work documents when traveling), connectivity may become an issue. Course this depends on how deeply buried your iPhone is and how well of a connection is established between your devices and cellular services. :)

I appreciate your advice but I never judged anyone and never assumed anything based on gender needs. In fact, as I stated, I carry my iPhone in a field bag when I travel which takes the assumption that I carry it in my pocket out of the equation and pretty much keeps it in the same playing field as carrying it in a purse or other such bag. If anyone is judging, it isn't me ;).
 
TravelingMac said:
You do realize your iPhone needs to be in close proximity with the watch in order to use wireless services and many other features the watch offers, right? NFC being one which requires very close proximity in order to verify Apple :apple: transactions. If your iPhone is buried deep in a bag or purse (I do carry mine in a field bag with my work documents when traveling), connectivity may become an issue. Course this depends on how deeply buried your iPhone is and how well of a connection is established between your devices and cellular services. :)

I appreciate your advice but I never judged anyone and never assumed anything based on gender needs. In fact, as I stated, I carry my iPhone in a field bag when I travel which takes the assumption that I carry it in my pocket out of the equation and pretty much keeps it in the same playing field as carrying it in a purse or other such bag. If anyone is judging, it isn't me ;).
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It connects via bluetooth AND wifi. I can hear the phone getting notifications and phone calls in my purse and I used to use a bluetooth device in my house to use a landline phone with my iPhone so I really don't think connectivity will be an issue. Plus, I don't carry one of those monster purses.

So, if you DON'T have it in a handy pocket all the time like you suggested I'm mystified why you don't see how much more convenient getting notifications on a watch would be. Whatever. Guess you just felt the need to vent about why you don't want one. Thanks
 
laurim said:
Here's my set of actions if I use my iPhone as a boarding pass:

Get the pass ready on my phone and try to keep it awake until I get up to the gate so I'm not fumbling to get back to the screen and holding up the line
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You'll probably have to fumble to get it back on the watch screen as well. Besides, if you have a phone with Touch ID there is no need to keep the screen awake since it just takes single button press to turn it on and unlock it.
Place it on the reader
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With the watch: Twist your arm and perform some gymnastics to bring it in position. :D
While pulling my carryon and going down the ramp, I try to put the phone back in my purse because it's too hard to put my bag in the overhead with my phone in my hand. Since I'm moving and only have one hand free, this is difficult.
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Well, I always have it in my pants pocket. But if you don't have that, fair enough.
A watch with the pass would make this process MUCH simpler. Since when are people against hands-free functionalities?
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But it will probably not be handsfree. On the watch you'll have to swipe and/or hit the tiny app icon to bring up the boarding pass, unless they have figured out some magical way for the watch to read your mind and know automatically when you want the boarding pass as opposed to checking the time.
 
Rigby said:
You'll probably have to fumble to get it back on the watch screen as well. Besides, if you have a phone with Touch ID there is no need to keep the screen awake since it just takes single button press to turn it on and unlock it.
With the watch: Twist your arm and perform some gymnastics to bring it in position. :D
Well, I always have it in my pants pocket. But if you don't have that, fair enough.
But it will probably not be handsfree. On the watch you'll have to swipe and/or hit the tiny app icon to bring up the boarding pass, unless they have figured out some magical way for the phone to know automatically when you want the boarding pass as opposed to checking the time.
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It's not that hard to put a watch face on a table. Kind of depends what side the scanner is on. And I think I can manage tapping the passbook app on my watch while I wait for my turn. The pain with the phone is trying to put it away after I scan it and walking to the plane. It's a minor pain but those little inconveniences all day long add up. The watch isn't meant to be some huge revelation in people's lives. It's an addon to make things a little easier. I already wear a dumb watch. Why not have a watch that does so much more?
 
laurim said:
It's not that hard to put a watch face on a table. Kind of depends what side the scanner is on. And I think I can manage tapping the passbook app on my watch while I wait for my turn.
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Let's hope they have found a convenient way to bring it up and keep it awake.
The pain with the phone is trying to put it away after I scan it and walking to the plane.
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Hm, can't say I've ever had that problem.
It's an addon to make things a little easier. I already wear a dumb watch. Why not have a watch that does so much more?
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Well, the trade-off is that it's yet another device to keep charged and yet another charging cable to remember to bring along. Do the benefits outweigh the inconvenience? I don't know yet. But so far the use cases don't seem very compelling to me.

BTW, when I travel internationally my travel times are often longer than 18 hours of battery life ...
 
Rigby said:
Let's hope they have found a convenient way to bring it up and keep it awake.
Hm, can't say I've ever had that problem.
Well, the trade-off is that it's yet another device to keep charged and yet another charging cable to remember to bring along. Do the benefits outweigh the inconvenience? I don't know yet. But so far the use cases don't seem very compelling to me.

BTW, when I travel internationally my travel times are often longer than 18 hours of battery life ...
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Never heard of a flight that never lands within 18hrs. You could always put the watch in low power mode if you're worried. Guess I'm lucky since I have enough status with Delta that I can get a seat with a charging port ;) Or I could just use my portable charger. And the extra cord will go in my purse. I always have more than one so I can keep one at home and one on the road. Easy peasy.
 
laurim said:
Never heard of a flight that never lands within 18hrs.
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Of course. But including stopovers a transatlantic or transpac trip takes easily more than 18 hours. And finding an unoccupied power outlet can be challenging at airports, even in many lounges. I'd rather not manage yet another battery besides the ones in my laptop/iPad and phone.
 
Rigby said:
Of course. But including stopovers a transatlantic or transpac trip takes easily more than 18 hours. And finding an unoccupied power outlet can be challenging at airports, even in many lounges. I'd rather not manage yet another battery besides the ones in my laptop/iPad and phone.
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And that's your choice. See how easy that is? Everyone has to weigh the advantages with the disadvantages. I don't see charging another device a big deal. I'll just do them together.
 
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