I can’t deny it any longer: I’m a big fan of mashups. However, most mashups seem to serve a very limited, niche purpose that needs to be fully adopted by the user before their potential is realized, and I rarely come across apps that I feel can really add a significant amount to value to the market and to my day-to-day life.

I received an email from David White at FlightStats regarding a new application they have deployed, and I instantly saw numerous ways that the application could used to streamline existing practices in flight tracking.

As an avid traveller, I usually resort to a combination of my Apple flight tracker widget and iCal to keep my flights organized, but that method has such limited functionality that I may as well just call the airline to track my flight.

According to David, FlightStats:

“provides real time flight tracking as a Google Maps mashup, accurate flight status on global flights, flight status alerts (changes, arrival, departure, etc.) by FB notification, mini-feed updates, email or text message, plus lots of useful airport info including current airport delays and weather conditions.

As a social activity, you can share your flight info and status, track friends’ flights, alert a friend who is supposed to meet you and compare travel plans to see who’s going where.”

I really feel that this application has a lot of potential, and I’m looking forward to utilizing it to manage all of my upcoming flights and flight reviews. If you want to view flight info and statuses in real-time on Facebook, check out the
FlightStats application.