Do You Use Flight-Status Services?

Savvy travelers know how to check flight status anytime, anywhere. If you're at your computer, for instance, you can ping FlightStats.com. If you're out and about, you can text a flight number to GOOGLE (466453) and get updates via SMS. Dead cell battery? Pick up any landline phone and dial 1-800-FLIGHTS, a new service that's free and easy to use (it works with cell phones, too, natch).

Unfortunately, it turns out that some flight-status alerts aren't so alert after all, providing incomplete or downright erroneous data. So says Wall Street Journal columnist Scott McCartney, who recently put some of the more popular flight services to the test. It's interesting reading for anyone who routinely relies on these and similar services. Looks like FlightStats.com is the winner, as it collects data from multiple sources.

Do you use flight-tracking services and/or alerts? If so, have they ever let you down? Tell us how in the Comments.