Delta Air Lines is my preferred carrier when I travel, and I mostly love its Fly Delta mobile app to keep track of my account and itineraries.

However, there are also those times that, just when I think I have it all figured out, the feature set falters.

Probably the most inconsistent display available in the app is the seat map. When I fly coach, I like to track the layout to aim for an aisle seat with an empty one next to me. As a business traveler that needs to frequently write on my laptop, this affords maximum elbow room on either side when typing.

The difficulty is that seats which often show empty up to the last minute on the map can fill with passengers regardless. Having spoken to an airline employee about this once, my understanding is that this happens because sometimes the Delta app does not always show occupants booked via partner airlines (i.e. SkyTeam members like KLM or Air France).

So, I like to at least find the largest grouping of empty seats near an available aisle opening and select one towards the center. That way, should the ones closest to me fill in, there is sometimes a chance that a few rows in front or behind will still have enough availability for me to move once everyone has settled in.

Sometimes it works out; sometimes it doesn't.

Particularly buggy, however, was in applying one of my regional upgrade certificates to first class as a Platinum Medallion SkyMiles flyer. Again, the seat map was not very helpful because it showed first class as entirely full. Nonetheless, I was able to apply it and I went to the top of the upgrade list.

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Then, during the morning of the flight, the app indicated I had been designated to first class and that the specific seat would be assigned at the gate. It was short lived.

Soon after, the app reverted me back to my previous economy seat once the flight was delayed. Nonetheless, I did eventually get the upgrade despite the uncertainty beforehand.

Another great feature, in theory, is the checked bag tracking.

Until recently, once you checked your bag at the counter, you might not know for certain that it was going to make it to your final destination until you yourself saw it at the baggage claim. This feature is meant to change that, though it also falls through the cracks occasionally.

On the same set of flights as the upgradeable seat struggle-heading from San Diego to Berlin through Minneapolis-Saint Paul and Amsterdam-the app showed that my bag made it from SAN to MSP, but neither displayed it on the flight from MSP to AMS nor AMS to TXL.

When you're relying on such technology to tell you these things, it becomes a little worrisome when the information is not there.

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Through Twitter, Delta was able to more or less confirm it had made it through AMS, and then KLM confirmed it made it in time to be stored on the flight to TXL. In this case, the competence of the ground crews was more effective than the app.

All of this is to say that these are two tools that, if they were 100 percent accurate, would alleviate travel stresses. In reality, when they fail, they actually serve to add worry.

I commend Delta's efforts to develop the technology, but I also encourage my favorite airline to improve upon it.

Surely, there must be a way to cross-reference other SkyTeam databases for seating and better scan bags internationally to do so.

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