Long waits and stretched-out window shopping at airport shops when the flight is delayed may soon be a thing of the past.

With Singapore Airline's introduction of an enhanced mobile flight information service, customers can be alerted ahead of time with a mobile phone text message indicating changes in flight details.

A short message service (SMS) will be sent three to 48 hours before the original scheduled flight, if there are significant changes in flight time.

In a press release yesterday, the airline urged all customers to provide mobile phone numbers at the point of reservation, and for travel agents to ensure delivery of their clients' contact information to SIA.

This mobile flight information service will be extended to all SIA customers, and replaces the original "Arrivals & Departures Alert" service, which was made available only to frequent flyers and those who had registered on the carrier's website.

Existing Priority Passenger Service (PPS) and KrisFlyer club members, and registered users of the SIA website need only to log in to singaporeair.com to update or provide their mobile phone numbers to enjoy this service.

However due to differences in network, customers using mobile services in Japan and Korea will not be able to utilise this alert service.

This SMS service is part of SIA's bid to give customers more flexibility and convenience in checking-in and obtaining flight information through the use of mobile devices.

Widely used devices like GPRS-enabled phones, PDAs and i-mode mobile phones are supported and customers only need to register at singaporeair.com to enjoy these options.