Airport Courtesy Cars App Closing?

Seems the author had a thread going here, responding to some users unhappynwithnthenrequired permissions. His point was that the development company that wrote it for him required those permissions for "future use," and he couldn't get rid of them. He further said that he was debating closing the app and going back toms mobile-friendly website.

To me, the website sounds better!
 
I loaded the app quite some time ago but hadn't really ever needed it on any trips yet... walked in and said, "Do you have a courtesy car?" They say, "Yes." So it hadn't come in handy yet.

But what it did do is constantly set a badge saying it wanted to update. Which I would let it do, and then the badge would be back again pretty soon, which now... is to the point where I ignore the badge.

I could go turn off the badge in the iOS notifications settings but I literally just ignore it now. It's like a Check Engine light in a 1990s car. LOL.
 
Sorry, never heard that one before from over 12,000 pilots using it.
 
I have downloaded it too, but honestly I'm suffering from app overload where I've forgotten it's there. I too usually select the airport first and then inquire about ground transportation second. Sometimes it's a crew/courtesy car; sometimes it's a lift to a nearby spot.

Re the app; I appreciate the effort you've put forth, but as Alton Brown might describe it, its a unitasker.

Honestly I would prefer to see you work a deal with someone like Foreflight to include the data you've compiled in a flight planning software. It's nice to look at the availability of a car, along with availability and price of fuel when determining a stop.
 
Never downloaded the app,the web site seems to work fine.
 
denverpilot said:
I loaded the app quite some time ago but hadn't really ever needed it on any trips yet... walked in and said, "Do you have a courtesy car?" They say, "Yes." So it hadn't come in handy yet.
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That's great, if you've already flown there I suppose. Though flying somewhere and finding out there is no car is a pretty expensive way to ask that question.

What I would want from that app is a map. Let me zoom in along my flight line and see which airports along the way have a car so I can use that info to decide which fuel stops to make. If foreflight added that feature, I would be very happy.
 
Wonder if you could license that data layer to foreflight...
 
And just to add one point, if anyone submits an airport cafe to me or other points of interest, I will include it in the car listing. Send them directly to airportcars101@gmail.com Thanks.
 
GeorgeC said:
Bummer. Too bad they don't expose courtesy cars or restaurants the way they do fuel prices.
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Yup. Thanks to this thread, I wrote them a note requesting exactly that feature.
 
GeorgeC said:
Bummer. Too bad they don't expose courtesy cars or restaurants the way they do fuel prices.
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It is a courtesy. The moment you put it on airnav you are going to have pilots standing there complaining that 'their' car is not available.
 
weilke said:
It is a courtesy. The moment you put it on airnav you are going to have pilots standing there complaining that 'their' car is not available.
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That makes no sense. The FBOs already publish if they have cars. The question is how to expose that data. Option one is the current way where it's a pain in the ass. Option two is to use Glenn's map or add similar to Foreflight. I vote for option two.
 
Option 3: Open airport data in Foreflight, scroll to FBO, click on phone number, speak in questioning tone, receive answer. Heh.
 
Sort of on topic....

How do you go about getting the courtesy car?

I'm flying down to Provo for some towered landings and was thinking about going and grabbing lunch while down there.
 
korben88 said:
Sort of on topic....

How do you go about getting the courtesy car?

I'm flying down to Provo for some towered landings and was thinking about going and grabbing lunch while down there.
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No standard - just call to find out.

Some places, they have to be open and process some paperwork before you drive, others, the keys are on the counter or hanging on a peg.

So, like Nate said - call.
 
denverpilot said:
Option 3: Open airport data in Foreflight, scroll to FBO, click on phone number, speak in questioning tone, receive answer. Heh.
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I'm another one who didn't really see much personal use for it, so just a thought: there's a balance somewhere between an app that tries to be all things to all people and gets bloated, and an app that is way too specific.

For me, anyway, an app or website focused on courtesy cars is too narrow. As a comparative example, I have definitely chosen to fly somewhere for no reason other than there is a restaurant on the airport, so sites like FlyToLunch or the old 100dollarhamburger had some value to me. But so far, anyway, I dont recall having ever said to myself, "gee, I wonder where I can find an airport car. It would be fun to drive a 82 Buick" and selected a location based solely on that.

I'm not saying the information isn't valuable. but it is an easy phone call or FBO website away once a destination is selected. Just saying it might be too narrow for more than very casual use.
 
denverpilot said:
Option 3: Open airport data in Foreflight, scroll to FBO, click on phone number, speak in questioning tone, receive answer. Heh.
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That seems like way more of a PITA than just having the info displayed on the map. Maybe you get paid based on how many phone calls you make per day or something.

midlifeflyer said:
I'm not saying the information isn't valuable. but it is an easy phone call or FBO website away once a destination is selected. Just saying it might be too narrow for more than very casual use.
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For me the use case is cross countries where I'm making a fuel stop. So the destination isn't selected. I'm looking at fuel prices, restaurants and car availability as the factors to determine where I will land. The location could be anywhere within a 100 mile radius depending on those three factors. Calling 25 FBOs, as Denverpilot apparently wants to do, seems like a waste of time when the data is already in the app and just needs to be displayed conveniently. Once I know which places have cars and reasonable gas then I might make a phone call to confirm the availability, but clicking through three or four menus to get that info or calling 25 places just seems inefficient. But what do I know, I also don't have time to post 34,000 messages here so he must not have much going on in his life.
 
Problem is, even with the app, securing a courtesy car can be some arbitrary and subject to luck. Six months ago the courtesy car was available, but it blew a head gasket last week and is out of service. As such, I'd probably still call ahead even after referring to the app. Unlike availability of fuel or a maintenance shop, a free car can be subject to the whims of the person working the desk that day, or snatched up by the folks who landed just ahead of you.
 
Brad Z said:
Problem is, even with the app, securing a courtesy car can be some arbitrary and subject to luck. Six months ago the courtesy car was available, but it blew a head gasket last week and is out of service. As such, I'd probably still call ahead even after referring to the app. Unlike availability of fuel or a maintenance shop, a free car can be subject to the whims of the person working the desk that day, or snatched up by the folks who landed just ahead of you.
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Absolutely true also. For me, I would just like it to be easier to figure out which places to call.
 
I really like some of the notes for the airports here in NM. This one in particular:

KSXU Santa Rosa.
No crew cars, but note in the office says to call the police and they will come get you and give you a ride to your hotel. The next morning we called back and were given a ride back to the airport by the Chief of Police!
 
If anyone has any more comments, send them in and I will post them!
 
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