Airline alliance offers timetables on iPad

(Apple)

The Oneworld alliance has launched a new iPad app, allowing flyers to view the schedules of all of its airlines on the device's large display.

Using the free app, passengers can search for and view schedules for the nearly 10,000 flights operated daily by members of the Oneworld alliance, which includes American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Iberia and Japan Airlines.

The Oneworld timetable displays both non-stop flights and connections, flight numbers, length and total journey time, along with terminals and the aircraft used for the flight.

Alliance apps are a useful way for travelers to keep an eye on timetables from preferred carriers as they show codeshare flights from all of an airline's partners.

As well as the new iPad app, Oneworld offers an iPhone Flight Search app, although it's not as powerful as the free iPhone and iPad app offered by its competitor alliance SkyTeam, which also offers weather information and seven-day forecasts for major airports.

In addition, SkyTeam's app offers the flight status of member airlines, notifying users of updates and changes, as well as a feature to find the closest airport by distance and see which members fly there.

Star Alliance, the largest major alliance, hasn't published a mobile app but offers travelers a mobile-optimized version of its website at http://www.star2go.com

The Oneworld and SkyTeam apps are available from the iTunes app store.