Text flight number to yourself

[jhshiff]

There was an article in the latest ARP magazine that said you should text your flight number to yourself. Supposedly the phone would recognize that and generate a link to check flight status. I see three problems with that:

- How would it know what date (many airlines use the same number every day)?

- How would it know what city paid (Southwest uses the same flight number for multiple segments)?

- Finally, I tried it on my T-Mobile phone and nothing happened!

Has anyone tried this and did it work?

[ShelleyG557323]

 I use this quick hack all the time! (IPhone)

[AARPConsumerCare]

Hi @jhshiff! I actually tried myself last week, and it does work. While airlines will use the same flight number, they update the flight information daily. So the best thing to do is to try it within 24 hours of the flight.

To text the flight number, you should include the airline code at the beginning of the message in the format of [Airline code] [Flight number]. For example, if the flight is with Southwest the code is WN.

Your phone will recognize the flight number as a link that you can tap to view the information. On Android, texting the flight number will not produce the same pop-up link, but the flight number can be typed into the Google search bar to get real-time information. The feature works different depending on which phone you use regardless of the service carrier. Please let us know how it goes this time! - Diana G.

[jhshiff]

OK - it is an Apple thing, not for all phones! It definitely does work in a Google search on my phone or PC. Thanks for clarifying that.

[AARPConsumerCare]

You're welcome, @jhshiff. - Diana G.