Answers.Body: <p>So I did this with your option:</p>
  
  <p>Create custom Contact fields, with a profile for user input/editing. One drawback of this is that it isn't really "contact" information, but I'm willing to overlook that.</p>
  
  <p>It worked pretty well of course I am only working on one trip at a time - so multiple trips are not needed. This would get a bit hairy if you had the same person having multiple trips at the same time - if that is not the case it should work</p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2017-07-17T16:28:52.320Z
Answers.Text: Thanks for your review. I suspect I'll go this route with these fields:
   - arrival time
   - arrival flight (airline and # - I don't care about consistency in this)
   - departure time
   - departure flight
   - text field for "comments/connecting flights" 
   - pickup person (associated contact)
  Then I'll clear the fields after the flights as needed.
Answers.UserDisplayName: Phil Morice Brubaker
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2017-07-15T02:28:25.753Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2017-07-15T02:28:25.753Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: Josh Mailman
Answers.Body: <p>looks like you have done a good analysis of the options. Here is one extra one - add CiviCRM to a Drupal website - make the Drupal website theme match your joomla one - push folks through to the Drupal site - and then make use of Views and Webforms to deliver all the bits that you can't do via Joomla.</p>
  
  <p>Possibly not the answer you want, but trade-off might be doing a fair amount of workaround/customisation with joomla, versus having a different front end for civicrm and getting a bunch of drupal tools that will take care of a lot of what i see you need.</p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2017-07-17T16:34:21.873Z
Answers.Text: Thanks. I'll think about this one. Adding Contact fields is quick-and-dirty, but this one would open other possibilities. I'd love to have webforms.
Answers.UserDisplayName: Phil Morice Brubaker
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2017-07-14T20:34:15.290Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2017-07-14T20:34:15.290Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: petednz - fuzion
Answers.Body: <p>We have a customer that use CiviCase to manage the flight travel for their volunteers, including all the visa processes required. They give the pick up contact a role on the case. Works well for them!</p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2017-07-17T16:25:06.840Z
Answers.Text: Interesting. I haven't used CiviCase - would it add more demanding overhead to the server to install it for only this purpose? Are front-end users able to add their own info, or it is all back-end?
Answers.UserDisplayName: Phil Morice Brubaker
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2017-07-18T07:12:54.980Z
Answers.Text: I do not think it adds any demanding overhead, but I am not a sysadmin :-). CiviCase is back-end (CIviCRM component) but if you are using Drupal you could use Webform CiviCRM integration to enable front-end users to add their own.
Answers.UserDisplayName: ErikH - CiviCooP
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2017-07-15T18:30:40.270Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2017-07-15T18:30:40.270Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: ErikH - CiviCooP
Answers.Body: <p>The "flight" activity type seems like the way to go, if someone could have multiple flights.  If there's a single flight, I agree that you could use Contact custom fields.</p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2017-07-15T16:29:07.360Z
Answers.Text: I just used the arriving flight not the connecting flight - created two fields for flight - one for airline codes which are drop down - and one for flight number - also did this for departing day and time - also used date Min and max to make sure correct dates were entered / forced
Answers.UserDisplayName: Josh Mailman
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2017-07-16T17:15:48.100Z
Answers.Text: If it works for you, then it's the correct answer! :)  However, is it possible that someone will take a second round-trip flight?  If so, do you still need the old flight info?  Your solution isn't a problem unless the answer to both is "yes".
Answers.UserDisplayName: Jon G - Megaphone Tech
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2017-07-15T15:21:28.820Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2017-07-15T15:21:28.820Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: Jon G - Megaphone Tech
Body: <p>My organization coordinates international trips, and so we collect flight information for airport pickups. Currently, we use a google form and multiple spreadsheets, but I am exploring possibilities for civi.</p>
  
  <p>What I would like:</p>
  
  <ul>
  <li>user reporting of their own flight information - arrival date/time, flight info</li>
  <li>user editing of the flight information would be ideal (through online profiles)</li>
  <li>assign someone to pick them up</li>
  <li>create reports and/or exports of the flight information</li>
  </ul>
  
  <p>Here are some options I am thinking of, and I invite suggestions for the best way to handle this use case. (We use Joomla, so webforms are not an option.)</p>
  
  <ul>
  <li>Create custom Participant fields. The problem with this is that the user could only report them when registering for the event, when they are unlikely to have booked their flights.</li>
  <li>Create custom Contact fields, with a profile for user input/editing. One drawback of this is that it isn't really "contact" information, but I'm willing to overlook that.</li>
  <li>Create custom contact fields with multiple records, which makes more sense that simple contact fields. I haven't used these yet for other cases, but it seems that reporting/exporting would be a problem.</li>
  <li>Create a "Flight" Activity Type, and use the standard activity fields to record the information. The advantage of this is that it doesn't require custom fields, but as far as I can tell, users wouldn't be able to self-report through a front-end profile.</li>
  </ul>
  
  <p>Has anyone else developed a process for tracking airport pickups? What might be some other good options?</p>
  
Tags: <civievent>
Title: What are some ways to handle flight information?
ThreadText: # What are some ways to handle flight information?
  
  (Asked by: username_0 on 2017-07-14)
  
  My organization coordinates international trips, and so we collect flight information for airport pickups. Currently, we use a google form and multiple spreadsheets, but I am exploring possibilities for civi.
  
  What I would like:
  
  * user reporting of their own flight information - arrival date/time, flight info
  * user editing of the flight information would be ideal (through online profiles)
  * assign someone to pick them up
  * create reports and/or exports of the flight information
  
  Here are some options I am thinking of, and I invite suggestions for the best way to handle this use case. (We use Joomla, so webforms are not an option.)
  
  * Create custom Participant fields. The problem with this is that the user could only report them when registering for the event, when they are unlikely to have booked their flights.
  * Create custom Contact fields, with a profile for user input/editing. One drawback of this is that it isn't really "contact" information, but I'm willing to overlook that.
  * Create custom contact fields with multiple records, which makes more sense that simple contact fields. I haven't used these yet for other cases, but it seems that reporting/exporting would be a problem.
  * Create a "Flight" Activity Type, and use the standard activity fields to record the information. The advantage of this is that it doesn't require custom fields, but as far as I can tell, users wouldn't be able to self-report through a front-end profile.
  
  Has anyone else developed a process for tracking airport pickups? What might be some other good options?
  
  **Tags:** civievent
  
  
  ---
  
  ## 4 answers
  
  ### Answer by username_1 on 2017-07-15. Score: 2 | Accepted answer
  
  So I did this with your option:
  
  Create custom Contact fields, with a profile for user input/editing. One drawback of this is that it isn't really "contact" information, but I'm willing to overlook that.
  
  It worked pretty well of course I am only working on one trip at a time - so multiple trips are not needed. This would get a bit hairy if you had the same person having multiple trips at the same time - if that is not the case it should work
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_0**: Thanks for your review. I suspect I'll go this route with these fields:  - arrival time  - arrival flight (airline and # - I don't care about consistency in this)  - departure time  - departure flight  - text field for "comments/connecting flights"   - pickup person (associated contact) Then I'll clear the fields after the flights as needed.  
  
  ---
  
  ### Answer by username_2 on 2017-07-14. Score: 2
  
  looks like you have done a good analysis of the options. Here is one extra one - add CiviCRM to a Drupal website - make the Drupal website theme match your joomla one - push folks through to the Drupal site - and then make use of Views and Webforms to deliver all the bits that you can't do via Joomla.
  
  Possibly not the answer you want, but trade-off might be doing a fair amount of workaround/customisation with joomla, versus having a different front end for civicrm and getting a bunch of drupal tools that will take care of a lot of what i see you need.
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_0**: Thanks. I'll think about this one. Adding Contact fields is quick-and-dirty, but this one would open other possibilities. I'd love to have webforms.  
  
  ---
  
  ### Answer by username_3 on 2017-07-15. Score: 2
  
  We have a customer that use CiviCase to manage the flight travel for their volunteers, including all the visa processes required. They give the pick up contact a role on the case. Works well for them!
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_0**: Interesting. I haven't used CiviCase - would it add more demanding overhead to the server to install it for only this purpose? Are front-end users able to add their own info, or it is all back-end?  
  > **username_3**: I do not think it adds any demanding overhead, but I am not a sysadmin :-). CiviCase is back-end (CIviCRM component) but if you are using Drupal you could use Webform CiviCRM integration to enable front-end users to add their own.  
  
  ---
  
  ### Answer by username_4 on 2017-07-15. Score: 0
  
  The "flight" activity type seems like the way to go, if someone could have multiple flights. If there's a single flight, I agree that you could use Contact custom fields.
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_1**: I just used the arriving flight not the connecting flight - created two fields for flight - one for airline codes which are drop down - and one for flight number - also did this for departing day and time - also used date Min and max to make sure correct dates were entered / forced  
  > **username_4**: If it works for you, then it's the correct answer! :)  However, is it possible that someone will take a second round-trip flight?  If so, do you still need the old flight info?  Your solution isn't a problem unless the answer to both is "yes".  
  
  ---
  
  