Tracking your iPhone every step of the way with flightaware

[rnizlek]

My phones always come on UPS. Is it the same procedure?

I've never been OCD about this before, but I think you might have messed with my head.

Yes. All UPS flights do a stopover in Anchorage for refueling, as they do not run 777s. However, I would add to the OP's post that many eastbound 777s still do stop in Anchorage if they are fully loaded, which these planes undoubtably are. The only way FedEx is able to operate direct Hong Kong Memphis flights is by not filling the 777 to its weight limit. So it's more likely than not that your phone will stop in Anchorage for refueling, which is helpful to know if you are tracking it on Flight Aware (as the OP mentioned). UPS also has their major sort facility in Louisville, KY, whereas FedEx's facility is in Memphis. However, if you're on the west coast, UPS will likely unload your phone in Anchorage and put it on a west coast bound plane rather than flying it to KY and back.

If you want to see how the inside of UPS's air parcel sorting facility works, this is a great program (essentially it's the same for FedEx, too):

http://itunes.apple.com/tv-season/ups/id294286571?i=295191309

I do wonder, however, if Apple has pre-staged any iPhones in the US. When I bought the iPad 3 (pre-ordered on day of announcement) the iPad was already in the US and shipped to me from there, rather than coming direct from China. I have no idea if this is going to be the case this time. There are cost advantages with bringing everything over on a standard cargo carrier (versus a primarily small package carrier like UPS/FedEx) and then distributing everything from there. But when time is of the essence, it's faster to just package and ship from China.

I'm certainly part of the club that watches the plane bring my iPhone overseas, although I'm interested in air freight in general, so it's more out of a general interest in the area than needing to know where the phone is at every second. As I side business, I do some small package air freight from China to sell goods on eBay and Amazon, so gotten to know the systems pretty well.

 

[astral125]

Is anyone seeing their package show up on UPS or Fedex yet?

 

[rnizlek]

I was wondering how many iPhones an MD-11 can haul, but then another question popped: when iPhones are shipped from China are they already individually packed in the boxes we receive? Or are they shipped in bulk and packaged for individual delivery at some later point in the shipping process?

If you get a tracking number from China, the phones are already in their boxes and ready to go. They are then palletized, loaded on a plane and flown to the US, where they clear customs as a single shipment, before being broken up into individual boxes and sent on their way to their final destination. This is the service that Apple usually uses:

http://www.fedex.com/us/internation...ternational-priority-direct-distribution.html

Also, note what I mentioned in my above post - the iPad 3 was not shipped in this manner. It was brought to the US first, and then packaged. Basically, if your iPhone starts its tracking in China, the above method is used. Otherwise it was imported into the US before it was packaged and labeled for final delivery.

 

[Mutherluver]

if i remember correctly my 4s was shipped from the czech republic. (germany)

uhhhh what?

 

[Built]

I'm having flashbacks to the iPhone 4 roll-out. For some reason, I was not payhing attention to the 4s during its roll-out, but the 4 seemed like a REALLY big deal. People were tracking the flights...thinking of possible routings...I wonder how many strokes were caused by enroute delays.

 

[rnizlek]

uhhhh what?

I think he is saying that he lives in Germany and the tracking originated in the Czech Republic. Not a huge surprise, all that really means if that Apple flew the iPhone there as a cargo shipment, then packaged them for delivery and sent them onward.

 

[pHeNom]

Apple stopped trusting commercial planes for transportation, so they are turning to C-130s for the iPhone 5's.

Image

lol

also if apple wants to make a couple of $$$ more it would broadcast a live stream of the whole process.. from being shipped from china -- to memphis -- to your door.. PPV! dont like you know some of yall would actually consider that! hahaha

 

[Ayemerica]

I can hardly believe you know what kinds of planes FedEx uses.

I appreciate this thread.

wait until tuesday, you'll be like..maybe i can get a job at fedex and fly the planes and barrow my iphone right quick.

xd

 

[ct2k7]

I wonder if FedEx or UPS are hiring pilots... just need that type rating in a year!

 

[zhandri]

I think he is saying that he lives in Germany and the tracking originated in the Czech Republic. Not a huge surprise, all that really means if that Apple flew the iPhone there as a cargo shipment, then packaged them for delivery and sent them onward.

^this. i still thought it was crazy because all people got them shipped from china and mine came from prague

 

[tigress666]

Thanks for the info OP, I'm just the kind of person who would find it fun.

And Apple definitely uses FedEx to ship? I thought they did but then saw people talking about getting it from UPS. I've never pre ordered an iphone. First one I got was after it came out so could just walk in and the 4 I got by reserving in store. I hope so, FedEx will be a lot more convenient for me (I won't be home and from what i understand FedEx will let me tell them to just leave it at a convenient FedEx location for me where as UPS will make me wait til they at least deliver it once and then I have to go to whatever hub it came from if I want to pick up the same day and I Don't think there are any UPS places open on Saturdays for me to tell them to leave it if I want to wait til saturday to get it. And the hub they usually come from is not at all convenient for me).

 

[davefromca]

Wow the original post was extremely interesting!

 

[rnizlek]

Thanks for the info OP, I'm just the kind of person who would find it fun.

And Apple definitely uses FedEx to ship? I thought they did but then saw people talking about getting it from UPS. I've never pre ordered an iphone. First one I got was after it came out so could just walk in and the 4 I got by reserving in store. I hope so, FedEx will be a lot more convenient for me (I won't be home and from what i understand FedEx will let me tell them to just leave it at a convenient FedEx location for me where as UPS will make me wait til they at least deliver it once and then I have to go to whatever hub it came from if I want to pick up the same day and I Don't think there are any UPS places open on Saturdays for me to tell them to leave it if I want to wait til saturday to get it. And the hub they usually come from is not at all convenient for me).

The use both, but generally the majority of the shipments come via FedEx.

 

[Nugget]

A "little OCD?" ...

For the record, I am not OCD. I am CDO.

Being CDO is just like being OCD except the letters are in alphabetical order, as things are supposed to be.

 

[jwire4]

For all curious, tracking information for many is already available. Go to UPS and Track a Package by reference, reference # is your 10 digit phone number, no spaces. Here's what my status looks to be so far.

ZhengZhou, China 09/16/2012 6:00 P.M. Arrival Scan
09/16/2012 5:45 P.M. Departure Scan
09/16/2012 8:39 A.M. Origin Scan
China 09/16/2012 9:43 P.M. Order Processed: Ready for UPS

Hope this helps!

 

[Cougarcat]

For all curious, tracking information for many is already available. Go to UPS and Track a Package by reference, reference # is your 10 digit phone number, no spaces. Here's what my status looks to be so far.

ZhengZhou, China 09/16/2012 6:00 P.M. Arrival Scan
09/16/2012 5:45 P.M. Departure Scan
09/16/2012 8:39 A.M. Origin Scan
China 09/16/2012 9:43 P.M. Order Processed: Ready for UPS

Hope this helps!

Nice tip. Here's another one: the number right below "tracking detail" is your tracking number, useful if you want to track it in your app of choice. I added it to delivery status and it worked.

 

[nostresshere]

if i remember correctly my 4s was shipped from the czech republic. (germany)

Could you have confused it with Shenzhen or some abbreviation of this? (this is where they seem to manufacture these)

 

[Funnone]

ZhengZhou, China 09/16/2012 9:50 P.M. Arrival Scan
09/16/2012 9:30 P.M. Departure Scan
09/16/2012 6:52 A.M. Origin Scan
China 09/16/2012 4:35 A.M. Order Processed: Ready for UPS

 

[ineel]

Because of the multiple routes, people's orders will go into 'prepared for shipment' and ship at different times, even though they will all arrive on the same day. With the ipad2 I preordered, it went straight to Oakland instead of Memphis, while several other Bay Area residents had theirs ship 2 days earlier than mine and head to Memphis instead. Turned out all 16GB Black 3G iPads shipped last and went direct to regional hubs, while many of the other models went through Memphis. Mine happened to get stuck in customs in HK for 3 days, but still made it from HK to my door in less than 24 hours and arrived on time.

Same here. My iPad (3rd gen.) went straight to oakland instead of memphis from Anchorage since Oakland is FedEx's California hub. I was extremely busy at the time of iPad 3's arrival that i didn't track the shipment progress of the iPad 3. I pre-ordered it, got it delivered and didn't open the package for 1 week.

 

[eyoungren]

Apple stopped trusting commercial planes for transportation, so they are turning to C-130s for the iPhone 5's.

I thought Apple was using AC-130 Spectres?!

Slightly different model.

Two years ago when I ordered my iPod Nano (5th gen, refurb) it followed the same route, but went to Oakland, not Memphis. Only Flightaware showed me at some point that the flight was going BACK to Anchorage. I called FedEx and they said not to worry about it.

Eventually it corrected itself.

My wife's iPod Shuffle though went to Memphis. I ordered both on one ticket, they took two different routes and my wife got her iPod later than I did because it went to Memphis. I live in Phoenix, so Oakland is much closer than Memphis which I guess is why she got her iPod later. Wierd.

 

[ineel]

I was wondering how many iPhones an MD-11 can haul, but then another question popped: when iPhones are shipped from China are they already individually packed in the boxes we receive? Or are they shipped in bulk and packaged for individual delivery at some later point in the shipping process?

So, back to the original question: how many iPhones can an MD-11 carry?

Evidence finds that everything is packed and shipped individually from China. The iPhones that are going to the US are most likely sorted in Anchorage to be put on flights to FedEx's regional hubs to put less strain on the Memphis hub. FedEx uses these other hubs as a backup when there is severe weather in Memphis and planes can't land/takeoff safely as well as regional hubs. It makes sense to fly from SanFrancisco(oakland) to Los Angeles instead of flying it all the way to memphis and all the way back to los angeles. Thats a considerable amount of fuel and that extra volume the package frees up can be used for a package that is being shipped cross country. Though in some instances FedEx will use their Memphis hub even for a regional deliver. I live in Sacramento which if about 85 mi from San Francisco. I send a lot of things back and forth overnight with FedEx there. Instead of trucking it there overnight, FedEx chooses to fly my packages/documents to Memphis and back to SF. This might be because they don't want to mix express shipments with ground shipments. UPS is a larger shipper and they do mix their express and ground together. When a UPS express is used, it is usually trucked to/from SF. Its just how each company works.

 

[eyoungren]

Ever since I started working for one of the largest international couriers in the world, my faith things arriving on time decreased substantially

I worked for UPS for seven years from '92 to '99 in the West Coast Air Hub in Ontario, CA. Intra sort, 9pm-1am, NDA. You have every reason to have decreased faith. The stuff I saw would back then would make anyone reconsider sending UPS.

 

[sluggozmom]

For all curious, tracking information for many is already available. Go to UPS and Track a Package by reference, reference # is your 10 digit phone number, no spaces. Here's what my status looks to be so far.

ZhengZhou, China 09/16/2012 6:00 P.M. Arrival Scan
09/16/2012 5:45 P.M. Departure Scan
09/16/2012 8:39 A.M. Origin Scan
China 09/16/2012 9:43 P.M. Order Processed: Ready for UPS

Hope this helps!

Thank you!!!
I also fall into the OCD category.
I've been looking for my status to change to shipped all day.
Now I have my tracking numbers!!!

 

[ineel]

FedEx originally didn't want any long range freighters and originally committed to buying the A380. Though it could carry more cargo, it would still need to refuel in Anchorage when coming from Asia. After multiple delays from Airbus and the freighter being out of spec of what both FedEx and UPS wanted, FedEx cancelled their orders and ordered the 777F from Boeing in a retaliation move. Finding that the 777F was extremely useful in Asia-US since it had the range to bypass Anchorage and fly direct to Memphis, FedEx was able to cut 1 day off of delivery times giving them an extra advantage over UPS on Asia-US shipping as well as the ability to charge a premium for those services. Not only that but the 777F is 18% more fuel efficient and has the ability to carry much more cargo than the MD-11F it replaces. FedEx has been so happy with these they doubled their orders from 15 777F freighters to 32 freighters as well as options for 13 more. Options basically mean that the airframe manufacturer has agreed to let FedEx buy 13 more airplanes if they choose at a set price and time definite delivery date. This way if FedEx really wants even more all they have to do is whip out their credit cards instead of going in negotiations which can take up to a year. The 777F are quite expensive to purchase, so FedEx only utilizes them on international routes where their profit margin is highest and the equipment is necessary. In domestic airfreight, FedEx uses a combination of MD-11F, DC-10F, A300F, and 757F slowly replacing the 727F. UPS on the other hand chooses to use the larger 747F from Asia Pacific and has refuel stops in Anchorage just as Fedex. Their domestic fleet is compromised of newer 767F/ A300F which have since replaced the whole DC-8 inefficient fleet. FedEx continues to milk their ageing MD-11f/DC-10 fleet, though they will eventually be replaced by the the 767F in the coming years as FedEx has recently placed a huge order 61 767F to replace the entire domestic fleet by the end of the decade with deliveries starting in 2014.


I wonder what would happen if Air frame manufacturers (Boeing/Airbus) started acting secretive like Apple. Airlines wouldn't be able to order until the planes were officially unveiled and airline CEOs lining up in Seattle/France just to have first dibs on the "all new revolutionary plane" thats coming out. I guess this way the airframers wouldn't have to make promises and sales 5 years before delivery and have production delays and not up to spec airplanes. The 787 originally went on sale in 2005 with almost 1000 pre-orders before it flew for the first time. It was originally supposed to have its first delivery in 2008. Major delays and setbacks from their international suppliers pushed their initial deliver 3YEARS from expectation leaving many airlines MAD and boeing had to give a lot of discounts to shut up several airlines. Now think what would happen if Apple announced that they were working on the iPhone 5 last November 2011 and had pre-orders go in right after while giving you the approximate specs with a delivery date to be in June 2012. They then would move the delivery date 1 month then 2 months then 3 months due to supplier problems. And finally the first iPhones to go out would not be up to the original specifications such as it being heavier than promised, slower than promised, battery life lower, basically an unfinished product before the up to spec product came out 3 months later. So this is why apple announces things when they are completely sure that their suppliers are able to cope with demand and they have a final polished product. This is something airlines have to deal with when they pre-order airplanes such as the A380 and 787. Major delays in addition to planes being overweight making your investment not so worthwhile. Airbus is stated to never profit from the A380 as delays have costed them billions of dollars and customers have demanded discounts on products that dont perform. The 787 is stated to only profit after 1500 planes have been ordered. Something like that can take many years to do.


Anaways I hope you learned something! Not only am I an apple freak, but I'm an plane freak as well as a logistics freak. Likewise I was ecstatic when Tim Cook came in as CEO still sad for Jobs though.

 

[snook911]

Still no tracking info available on UPS or Fed Ex