Patent ID: 7907067

Claim:
A method of readily customizing the display of near real-time flight information derived from flight tracking in which the display uses a client computer connected to a monitor, said method comprising the steps of: displaying on the monitor of the computer, a first list of at least four arrival flights to an airport, with each flight having associated data based on near real-time flight tracking, so as to allow the user to select from said first list, a second subset list of several flights each having associated data based on near real-time flight tracking and being of particular interest to a person viewing the display, and receiving, from the user, a selection selecting from said first list several flights, but less than all, to be used in displaying the second list of said several flights including associated data for each of said several flights that is based on near real-time flight tracking, and displaying said second list without including display in said second list of those flights in the first list that were not selected for display, whereby a user can readily customize the display to include an independent message for each of several flights particularly suited to the user, without including other flights to the same airport that are not particularly suited to the user and; determining an arrival time determined from the near real time flight tracking data along with an identification of the aircraft type for each of said several flights in said second list, and automatically triggering said independent message when the time to arrival for one of said several flights in said second list reaches a predetermined threshold, said independent message containing personalized information beyond flight characteristics.