As a launch day customer of the Apple Watch, I was looking forward to trying out the Qantas Apple Watch app with a flight just two days after launch.
Here’s what I found.
Before Departure – Glances
One of the features of the Apple watch is a “glances” screen which allows you to see a small amount of content from specific applications without going into the application itself.
Glances shows information on upcoming flights such as your next departure, and a count down to boarding when you have a flight within 24 hours.
Within the app itself you can see information such as a count down to boarding.
The app will also show information on your flight including any lounges you might have access to on this trip.
And of course once boarding commences a notification is provided. Ideally this should provide information on the departure gate, however there still seem to be a few bugs to be ironed out!
Before Departure – Passbook
If you have used mobile check-in and stored your boarding pass in Passbook, Passbook will show a copy of your boarding pass on the watch. There have however been reports of the boarding pass scanners being too small to read from your wrist, so I’d suggest still boarding with your mobile phone.
On this particular trip I boarded with a paper boarding pass so don’t have images to show. I have however taken a few screenshots of a passbook boarding pass from a prior trip. The barcode has been obfuscated.
Upon Arrival
The Qantas Apple Watch app promises information upon arrival such as baggage carousel information however this wasn’t displayed for us. I was however travelling hand luggage only on this trip so it’d be interesting to see if the app is smart enough to only offer this information if you have checked in luggage.
Profile Information
The app also shows information such as your frequent flyer number and current status. Over time I’d like to see some more information displayed such as a summary of upcoming flights (often we have more than one in a short period of time) or even my frequent flyer points balance just in case I want to ask for that last minute upgrade at the desk inside the lounge!
Conclusion
Overall the app was a useful companion when travelling. It didn’t overload me with unnecessary information or notifications and I can certainly see the future potential especially when some of the initial (minor) bugs are fixed such as the “null” display when there’s no gate information available.