The native apps for my phone aren't really reliable enough at letting me know about delays or gate changes, I don't expect a web push notification to be any better at something that's already untrustworthy, especially on a system that lacks a cellular modem to stay online all the time. Even if they did work perfectly and could be trusted to serve that purpose, no company would only send status updates about your flight in the long term, they're unable to restrain themselves and will view it as an advertising avenue just like they do with phone apps.
My guess is it would be just as (un)reliable as an app.
Many airlines now more or less force you to install their bespoke apps, which could have just as well been websites, just to board their planes. I'm less than happy to install them.
We still have eMail in place. If they don't want to spend money on an SMS they can send an eMail.
If browser notification permissions would have a TTL, I'd might considering it. But until this happens I won't allow anyone to send me browser notifications. And even then I'd be very picky.
Emails have essentially become notifications anyway. All my emails are things like "your booking has been confirmed", "your package has been shipped", "your invoice is ready for download", "a login from a new device happened", "your flight is delayed", etc.
> I would prefer to know about a delayed flight before I get to the airport.
Generally, the recommendation is that you get to the airport at least two hours before your flight departs. Ideally, you shouldn't be rushing to try to get your plane.
Granted, the world has changed since that was first a recommendation, but even in today's connected world, it's still a good idea to get there two hours before departure, in my experience.
> Generally, the recommendation is that you get to the airport at least two hours before your flight departs.
A lot of delays are known much earlier than that. For example if a flight gets seriously delayed taking off and the plane is going to turn round and return, then the return flight will be delayed.
In any case, once at the airport delays will be announced and shown on screens. Once you get there you do not need phone notifications.
What do you mean nothing else is universal? I can't book a flight without a phone number and an email address, and they usually send emails. My phone is set to do notifications when I get one of those. Why is this solution bad? Any network situation that causes both SMS and email to fail certainly isn't going to magically deliver a push notification from a browser.