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We’re always coming up with new ways to use our BlackBerry devices. Once a simple email device, we’re now becoming power users, figuring out how to things we never imagined with just a pocket-sized device. This could be the lead-in for nearly any type of application, but I’ve chosen it particularly for travel services. If you have a BlackBerry, you’re probably an on-the-go type of worker. It might mean you’re working from home, but it also might mean you travel a lot. So logic would dictate that eventually, applications would surface which help you find flight information. Today, we’ll take a look at the best flight tracking and information applications available for BlackBerry. As always, we’re going to miss some. Feel free to add any you use in the comments.

Travel Mate for BlackBerry

We’ll start out with a rather simple application: Travel Mate for BlackBerry by Infodev Technologies (though their website doesn’t seem to be working). If you have trouble keeping all of your travel information in one place, this might be the application for you. It stores everything you might need — start and end dates, confirmation numbers, seat numbers, ticket number, hotel information, rental car info, etc. — right in the application.

It is essentially a database to store your travel plans. And it’s all easily accessible through your BlackBerry device. In addition to storing the information, it also provides quick facts about various countries around the world, as well as a currency converter if you’re headed abroad. It’s certainly a convenience to have all the information, in one place, right in front of you. It even has a checklist mode, so that you can tick off things as you do them and keep track of your trip.

The downside: there is no real-time flight information. It’s nice to have your flight information in front of you, but what if they announce that your plane is delayed while you’re on your way to the airport? Doesn’t that seem like pertinent information. It certainly is, and as we’ll see from some of these other applications and services, it’s easily attainable, too.

Cost: $25.99 — but $17.99 at the BBGeeks Store through August 31.

Beyond 411, Pocket Express

The folks behind Beyond 411 have given BlackBerry users a bevy of search options in one nifty application. In fact, you could put it up there with Pocket Express in terms of effective programs for BlackBerry. In my experience, Beyond411 is a bit faster, and you can often find even more information through them.

With their list of plugins, you can find one which will track the status of your flight. You might want to browse their additional plugins while you’re there, including their eBay plugin. Warning: that one might make your wallet a little lighter.

Pocket Express itself has a flight information widget, which allows you to check flight status, check schedules, search hotels, and track your reservations. It only comes with the paid version of the program, though, which doesn’t help its case when put up against Beyond411.

The advantage with both of these is that they come with features other than travel ones. So you can get your news, sports, and financial news, while having to go no further to check your flight information. The real-time alerts certainly help them stand out from other flight itinerary programs.

Cost: An Express Executive account with Pocket Express costs $6.99 per month or $69.90 for the year. Express Elite is $9.99 per month or $99.90 per year.

Beyond 411 is free.

WorldMate Live

On his final day of work for The New York Times, columnist William Safire instructed us on how to read a column. His most important point: “Reporters are required to put what’s happened up top, but the practiced pundit places a nugget of news, even a startling insight, halfway down the column, directed at the politiscenti. When pressed for time, the savvy reader starts there.” It is in this tradition that we’ll leave the best application in the middle.

I first discovered WorldMate Live at WES 2008. The representatives at the booth were more than kind, walking me through the program and answering any and all of my inane questions. What I came away with was that this is a perfect program for anyone who travels for a living. The free version is even comprehensive enough for the occasional traveler.

In a way, WorldMate Live functions like Travel Mate. Except you don’t have to enter the information yourself. You just send them your itinerary, rental car info, hotel bookings, and meetings, and they’ll compile them for you. How very nice of WorldMate. Then, when you log into the application, everything is right there for you, including public transportation information. Oh, and to make things even easier, they have an Outlook add-on which can make it even easier to forward them your travel information.

Of course, in order to get the good stuff, you’ll have to pay. The basic membership, for free, includes maps, currency converters, world weather, clocks, and of course your itinerary. The Gold Membership adds customer support, a travel directory, flight schedules, flight status, and flight alerts such as gate changes. While the occasional traveler will benefit enough from the open membership, those who fly once or more a month might want to take advantage of the premium features.

Cost: $9.95 per month or $99.95 per year for the Gold version, free for the basic version.

Travel+USA

Sometimes, you just need to check the time of your flight, or of a flight you want to get onto. This is where Travel+USA comes in handy. It compiles lists of flights and times, as well as other travel amenities such as trains, buses, and hotels. As the name implies, this information covers the US of A, so if you’re traveling abroad, Travel+ might not be for you.

When you enter a search, you’ll get a ton of information, including departure time, flight duration, arrival time, transfers, flight number, and other transportation options. This covers the major U.S. airlines. You can also search for hotels in your area.

One feature Travel+ emphasizes is the ability to sort by ticket price. This is always important. Hey, who wants to catch an expensive flight? You can keep it cheap with Travel+ — or you can keep it expensive, if someone else is picking up the tab.

Cost: $19.95 at the BBGeeks Store. You can get it on a seven-day trial here, too.

RSS feeds

How cool would it be to nab your flight updates right in your RSS reader? It’s the perfect implementation, really. You probably already have an RSS reader on your BlackBerry — the BBGeeks branded Viigo reader, right? So why not take the functionality of an already existing device and apply it to flight status?

This won’t help you plan your trip, nor will it store your itinerary. But if it’s simply flight status you seek, look no further. FlightStats has a number of widgets which can make tracking your flight easy. Just scroll down to the heading “RSS Feeds” and you’ll see that it’s ready for you right there. You can subscribe to Yahoo!, Google, or MSN right there. This works for those who have the Google Reader application — all of your feeds are synchronized on your Berry.

If it’s Viigo you use, just copy and paste the address and email it to yourself. Click on it, and you should be able to add it to your Viigo reader. Then you can sit back and relax while FAA updates are sent right to your reader. You’ll be among the first to know if your flight is delayed.

Those are just a handful of applications. What do you guys use to check your flight status. Is there any website out there which is particularly BlackBerry friendly?

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