Help with Mobile Airline Website

Fingaluna · #1 (**permalink**) 11-21-2009, 11:42 PM

Hi All,

As a very frequent air traveller, I find myself using the mobile version of my airlines website ALOT. Well, I was until I switched to the Touch Pro 2 (AT&T Tilt2 actually). Now I can no longer access the mobile website, only the full version.

Here are the specifics:
Website: mobile.aircanada.com >redirects to> www.aircanada.com (A VERY Java heavy site that doesn't work well on the phone (Better on IE than Opera, but still not great).

Browsers I have tried:
Opera Mobile
Opera Mini
Skyfire
IE (in both "mobile" and "desktop" modes)

All these browsers forward me to the full (www.aircanada.com) website.

Anyone got any advice? I am sorry to say that I am carrying around my old Treo 680 & switching over the SIM card when I need to access the website!

Yes - I have contacted the airline... but if you know Air Canada, you know that will get you nowhere faster than an airbus on an icy runway...

Cheers!

**japper88** · #2 (**permalink**) 11-21-2009, 11:59 PM

Have you tried Opera Mobile 10 beta?
aircanada.com seems to load up perfectly fine using that.
(with turbo turned off)

Fingaluna · #3 (**permalink**) 11-22-2009, 02:37 AM

Thanks Japper, was it the mobile version of the site you were able to load with Opera Mobile 10 or the standard version? I would be interested if you could check to see if you are able to get on to the mobile version...
Thanks!

**japper88** · #4 (**permalink**) 11-22-2009, 03:10 AM

You're right, you can't get to the mobile version of the website.

FYI Opera Mobile 10 is kinda buggy in general (a real memory hog) so you might want to stay away from it. It only just came out this week.

Using Opera mini 5 beta with mobile view turned on it gives you the full website, but arranges it in a "mobile view" so there are no frames, and useless ads are removed. Not sure if that helps.

I really like Opera mini 5 beta, it runs really smooth, better for mobile web browsing (meaning shot web usage in a pinch) than say Opera 9.5/9.7 of IE.

Is there any reason you want the mobile version of the website over the full one?

Fingaluna · #5 (**permalink**) 11-22-2009, 12:06 PM

Hi Japper,

Thanks again for your help. Yes, I really want the mobile site for the super bspeedy web-check-in and flight info...

Anyone know how I can fool a website into thinking I am using a mobile browser? I am thinking that I would dedicate one browser, likely Skyfire (because of it's fuzzy display on the screen) to be used mainly for that site. I know that the old "Blazer" browser from my Palm worked well, so I could use the browser ID tag from Blazer, but I have no idea how to enter/use that in Skyfire (or any other browser)...

Any suggestions appreciated!

Fingaluna · #6 (**permalink**) 11-22-2009, 04:42 PM

OK - Figured it out.

In Opera Mobile (not Mini) there is an option to input a custom User-Agent (Browser ID tag).

Go to: about:config > User Prefs > Custom User-Agent
I used the following as the User-Agent string:
Palm680/RC1 Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows 98; PalmSource/Palm-D053; Blazer/4.5) 16;480x800
This spoofs the site into thinking I am using a Treo, so it displays the mobile website!

pesok · #7 (**permalink**) 11-22-2009, 05:27 PM

if i want to get to mobile version of site i usually go through google and it "mobilises" any site