OAG, a provider of flight schedules and online travel information, has entered into a partnership with lastminute.com to distribute real-time flight status information directly to mobile devices.

Published: 16 Oct 2005

OAG, a provider of flight schedules and online travel information, has entered into a partnership with lastminute.com to distribute real-time flight status information directly to mobile devices.

Matt Jerwood, head of mobile & iDTV at lastminute.com said: "Every year thousands of business hours are unnecessarily lost as a result of flight delays and cancellation. Teaming up with OAG to provide this important service enables individuals to better manage the inconvenience and unnecessary costs associated with late flight departures and arrivals."

"We are delighted to be able to offer a service that helps our customers beyond the purchase itself and throughout their journey. This service is especially convenient as virtually everyone will be carrying a mobile phone anyway, they do not need to take anything extra, and therefore SMS updates are the logical and most useful solution."

As per the information available, the lastminute.com Flight Alert Service includes more than 190 airlines and relays any significant changes to the time, terminal or gate of a registered flight directly to individuals via SMS Flight Status Alerts. According to the company, subscribers are kept informed of flight status changes up to 4 hours prior to departure and arrival including check-in and gate information, at a cost of £1.50 per flight.

Messages are sent within 20 seconds of the status update occurring and the service is available to anyone with a UK registered mobile device. Customers are prompted to opt in to receive SMS Flight Status Alerts during the booking process or alternatively the service can be subscribed to by selecting 'Message Alerts' via the Mobile and TV pages on the lastminute.com homepage.

OAG holds a breadth of travel related content, known for its airline schedules database, which holds flight details for 1,000 airlines and more than 3,500 airports. Every ten seconds a flight is updated on the OAG system, says the company.