Let’s be real – airlines can deliver some pretty underwhelming app experiences. Some have gotten better. I give major props to United, but sometimes you need to look elsewhere. And that’s where Flighty comes in – not only is it a terrific name for an app, but it’s been on my home screen for several years, and I’ve been a paid subscriber.
It is, full stop, the best app for tracking flights, and it goes for traveling for leisure or work or if you need to track a family or friend’s flight. It has a modern interface that’s gorgeous and easy to navigate, provides way more details on what’s going on with your flight than the airlines, and can even predict delays or alert you about potential issues.
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This is part of a regular series of articles exploring the apps that we couldn’t live without. Read them all here.
Flighty is also super simple to get started; once downloaded, you can have it perform a Calendar Sync, which automatically imports upcoming, current, or even historical flights. This way, your app screen will show all your flight plans.
Tapping into one flight quickly shows the app’s power. You’ll see the airline-shared departure and arrival times, but as you get closer, you’ll see predicted times as well, and by scrolling down, you’ll see details about your aircraft. These details include the tail number – something that usually costs extra on a service like FlightRadar – as well as when the aircraft was first introduced, which is even neater for an airplane buff!
Maybe most important, though, is the history of the route. Flighty will show how many of the flights it’s observed and what percentage of those arrived early, on time, were delayed, or canceled. This can be hugely beneficial, especially if you’re debating switching to an earlier or later flight.
If you pay for Flighty, you’ll also get delay predictions, which can be invaluable. This goes back to the all-important idea of communication: airlines typically don’t predict delays, as they just want everything to be on time for everyone. Sadly, that’s not the case … especially in the congested northeast airspace of the United States, which is known for delays during summertime thunderstorm season. It can be a mess, but Flighty can help predict by letting you know if ground stops might cause delays or if your inbound aircraft is being held a bit longer for departure.
The app uses a custom AI to help predict these events and ultimately tries to be up-front and honest. It’s really helpful and has real-time updates, like alerting you to ground delays at Newark or San Fransisco, which might cause a 15-plus minute delay on your departure. Additionally, if there’s ever an aircraft change or a posted delay – in my experience – Flighty updates way before the airline. That can be pretty important, especially if your seat location is critical.
Now, when it comes to the actual day of the flight, you’ll have a Live Activity appear on the iPhone. Flighty was one of the first, and Apple even featured it for the implementation – both the lock screen and the Dynamic Island. It’ll tell you where your inbound aircraft is, how many hours until departure, and even where you are in flight. It’ll generally alert you of your baggage claim before you even get to the gate, and the inflight map is pretty neat.
But here’s the best part – you don’t need to pay for Wi-Fi for live updates while you’re in the air. Flighty works on the free messaging Wi-Fi that many airlines offer. This way, you can track your flight, see where you are, and feel more confident when you leave the plane and venture into the airport.
Put simply, Flighty can help calm the anxieties of air travel and is ultimately both a handy and fun app that has earned a spot on my homepage, and I think it deserves to be on yours whether you’re a frequent or more in-frequent traveler. It gives you extra knowledge about your travel and can help you ultimately feel more comfortable on your flight.
Plus, it logs your travel history, so at the end of the year – much like Spotify Wrapped – you get your Flighty recap, which not only boasts an awesome design annually but can let the aircraft nerd in you geek out. Ever wonder how many hours you spent delayed? What is your most frequented aircraft or airline? Where do you like to sit the most? Flighty logs it all.
Additionally, there are sharing features, so whether you typically monitor a loved one’s travels or a friend visiting, you can opt to share your Flighty with friends and get each other’s flight update alerts.
If you want all the features and even some that you could argue are more basic, you will need to pay, but I think it’s well worth it … especially for the AI predictions for delays alone. The best bang for the buck is $47.99 for the year, and you get all the features or pay $249 once to unlock all the features or weekly at $3.99 (you just don’t get the history, but this is great for traveling). Live Activities, Delay Alerts, full import, weather, where’s my plane, and most of the good stuff is paywalled. Still, even on the free plan, you’ll get the basic alerts.
Download Flighty on iOS. It’s not yet available on Android
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jacob.krol@futurenet.com (Jacob Krol)
