Flighty app gets an upgrade: Why this flight-tracking app is a go-to travel companion

I've been obsessively tracking my flights for years.

I know it's superstitious, but I always text myself my flight information ahead of a trip so I can track my route on JetLovers.com. Somehow, I'm convinced it wards off a canceled flight. In any case, I've also previously used Google Flights or another of my favorite apps, Flightradar24.

But a new player in the flight-tracking space has made me a convert.

Flighty is an app that helps me track my flights on a day-to-day basis and keeps an ongoing record of my travels worldwide. The paid version even gives you a year-end summary that can be a fun look back at your recent travels.

In August, Flighty got a big upgrade. The latest version allows users to see, in many cases, why their flights are delayed. Flighty now tracks late aircraft issues and airspace congestion to help predict delays hours in advance. That can help you get a jump on other passengers and potentially switch flights or even skip the trip altogether.

Here's everything you need to know about the Flighty app and its latest update.

What is Flighty?

Flighty is an Apple iOS app that launched in 2019. It shares real-time updates on your flights, including delays and cancellations. Oftentimes, it knows when a flight is having issues before your airline app does.

"I love Flighty because it organizes all my flights and lets me know about changes many times before the updates show on the board at the airport or at the gate," said Mike Panzarella, chief technology officer at Rocket Dollar. He's been using Flighty since January 2023 and swears by it.

"It helps you feel calm and helps you understand issues before the throngs of others do ahead of you, which is fantastic," he said. "It simplifies travel. It's almost like having an assistant or travel agent for $49 a year."

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There are paid and free versions of Flighty. The free version gives you real-time updates on delays or cancellations and will alert you to gate changes, departure and arrival times, and when to check in. You'll also be able to track your flight, but you won't get push notifications or many of the other advanced functionalities.

The paid version has many more bells and whistles. Here are just a few of Flighty's features:

• It automatically pulls in future and past flights from your calendar.
• Passenger flights are displayed on the screen when you open the app.
• You can also import flights via email or syncing with TripIt.
• It gives you a countdown to your trip.
• It supports all airlines worldwide, up to 365 days in advance.
• It displays your booking code and check-in information.
• Live tracking of your flight begins when you enter the flight.
• Cancellation and schedule change monitoring starts 365 days in advance, and live tracking starts 48 hours in advance.
• It will alert you to airport delays, late plane arrivals and other issues.
• It also shows you taxi, takeoff and landing times.
• A progress bar displays while you are in flight.
• Upon landing, you'll be made aware of your arrival gate and baggage claim carousel.

According to the company, "Flighty was named an Editor's Choice app by Apple within days of launch, won an Apple Design Award in 2023, and was a runner-up for iPhone App of the Year."

Indeed, I've found it a useful tool and especially fun because it appeals to my AvGeek interests.

Flighty 4.0

In an August app update, Flighty added the ability to better predict delays and let you know why your plane is delayed. The Flighty team says that the app is now using aviation authority data and machine learning to provide early warning of delays and to tell users, in many cases, the exact cause of the delay. Flighty looks at late aircraft data and monitors airport airspace to predict delays or cancellations.

The team says the new data collection means that subscribers can learn how long a delay will really be instead of relying on the airlines, which do not always provide the most accurate information on when a flight will actually take off.

According to Flighty, late aircraft, air traffic control congestion and ground stops account for the majority of delays.

"Flighty 4's monitoring predicts and deciphers those delays to give travelers what they've always wanted — a clear reason why their flight is delayed," said Ryan Jones, founder and CEO of Flighty.

How much is Flighty?

The upgraded version of Flighty is called Fighty Pro, and it costs $3.99 a week if you pay as you go — Jones says this option is perfect for less frequent flyers or those looking for information about individual trips.

However, most users opt for the annual plan, which includes a hefty discount that brings the annual total to $49.

You can also buy a lifetime membership for $249. (I ended up buying a one-year membership because I wanted to give it a good test run but wasn't ready to commit to a lifetime.)

If you want a family plan, you can choose one for $7.49 a month ($89 billed annually) or $449 for lifetime access.

Flighty lets you know when your flight is delayed

Flighty will let you know if your flight is delayed in many cases. This can keep you from getting to the airport earlier than you need, thus saving you valuable time. According to the company, the No. 1 cause of delays is a late plane.

The app automatically monitors flights for 25 hours prior to departure. Flighty will also alert you to airport delays and other issues with your flight. A good example of this can be seen in the screenshots below. Flighty alerted me about a delay several hours before a flight to Cancun, Mexico, from San Francisco, and I was able to take my time getting to the airport ahead of the flight.

However, I have found that Flighty isn't perfect at tracking all delays. A long-haul flight between New York City's John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) and Honolulu's Daniel K. Inouye International Airport (HNL) was held up for nearly three hours, with nary a notification from Flighty.

Flighty did let me know when we pushed back from the gate but failed to follow the flight despite it being further delayed because of a mechanical issue and returned to the gate.

In fact, to this day, Flighty records that the flight left on time, even though we ended up leaving about 3 1/2 hours late.

The company said this can happen if a flight returns to the gate and the airline marks the following departure as a separate flight — Flighty is working to address this in a future update.

Still, despite the imperfections, the app provides valuable information that most third-party tracking companies don't offer.

For example, its "Where's My Plane?" feature, which tracks your plane starting 25 hours before your flight, is consistently reliable.

With this feature, you can better anticipate a delay, giving you time to make other arrangements (if needed) before a formal announcement.

Flighty notifies you while in the air

Flighty lets you know which gate you are leaving from or arriving at, as well as any gate changes that occur on the day of travel. The app can also be used while you are on a flight. It will let you know if your flight is on time and how long you have left on the flight.

On a recent Atlanta flight, Flighty told me that my plane would arrive a bit early.

The app has the ability to track delays while you're in the air, as you can see with this notification about a flight from New Orleans to New York. Flighty not only let me know that my flight was delayed but also how late the plane would arrive.

Another example of an inflight delay notification came when I flew Hawaiian Airlines' brand-new Dreamliner from Honolulu to San Francisco. As you can see, the flight was slightly late. In addition to showing the new arrival time, Flighty also displayed a nifty map of the San Francisco Bay Area and what San Francisco International Airport (SFO) looked like that day.

These features can be helpful or, at least, interesting when you are flying and may save you from having to open another app. They can even update you when you aren't connected to the internet since the clock remains active in the app.

For a traveler like me who gets anxious during travel, Flighty is super helpful. I feel like I'm always well informed during my trips and a little ahead of the game compared to other passengers.

Flighty can keep your friends and family in the loop

You can also invite friends and family to share information with you on Flighty. Simply invite friends via a text message. Once they accept, you can set custom alerts and keep track of their flights, and vice versa.

Flighty will update you if your friends and family have a flight change, cancellation or delay, or if any other issues arise, depending on how you've customized the settings.

"No other service has ever successfully built 'friends for flying,'" Jones said in a press release. "They all try to make it social and public. But that's not what users want. They want to share with just a few friends and family, all privately, without signing up for a new service."

Flighty will also give you data on your upcoming flights

Flighty also gives you interesting data on your upcoming flights. You can see whether your flight is on time and the filed flight plan, among other options.

Flighty can provide data on your past year of travel

One of the app's best features is "Flighty Passport." This option lets users view and share their personal travel map, mileage and other fun stats from their past year of flights. It will even pull data for your lifetime of flying.

As you can see, it shows me flights from both my current year of travel and prior years.

According to Flighty, I've flown roughly 500,000 miles on 20 different airlines. That's a pretty big undercount, but more on that below. The app also tells you how many hours you've lost to delays by the year and throughout your lifetime.

In total, I've lost a whopping 44 hours to delays, according to Flighty.

Flighty is an AvGeek's dream

One of the best things about Flighty is all the information about your flights that the app has for you. It's wildly appealing if you are any kind of AvGeek.

The app tells you your most common aircraft type, the number of different jets you've flown, detailed information on each of your flights and lots of other interesting aircraft stats.

These are only a few examples of what you'll find in the app.

Flighty isn't perfect

As I mentioned above, Flighty doesn't pick up all delayed flights, but there are a few other quirks that have frustrated me and some other users.

Panzarella told me that Flighty lost a record of one of his travel segments after an Aeromexico flight he was on was diverted.

"The final and original destination was never picked up from the diversion airport," he said. "It doesn't accurately reflect my flight totals for the year."

He told me he even flagged it to Flighty, but it was never adjusted.

"The recovery flight from a diversion is a separate flight," Jones said in an interview with TPG. "The app tells you this and presents a button to search for the recovery flight."

I've found that the app hasn't found all of my historic flights either.

Some of my flights aren't integrated with my work and personal calendars, and Flighty has had a hard time finding many of my flights, especially from years past. My lifetime totals are wildly inaccurate, and even last year's stats are missing many flights.

"Our historical flight data is world-class and we are aware of the request to add manual addition of past flights and planning to introduce it in the future so users can add any flight no matter what," Jones said.

Panzarella told me he'd had better luck by using a simple trick.

"I integrated it with Tripit, and it's seamless," he said. "Tripit ingests my emails and then publishes them to Flighty automatically."

Indeed, once I integrated Flighty with TripIt, it did find more of my flights, but some were still missing.

TPG reader Alex Setzler told me you can also email your itinerary to track@myflightyapp.com. Doing so "will automatically pull all the flight details/info into your Flighty account."

The good news is that as the year goes on, I can monitor my flight stats to ensure all my flights are recorded going forward. You can also go back in time to add previous flights that might be missing from your lifetime totals — but that's going to be a project for another day.

Related reading:

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• Where to go in 2024: The 16 best places to travel
• 6 real-life strategies you can use when your flight is canceled or delayed
• 8 of the best credit cards for general travel purchases
• 13 must-have items the TPG team can't travel without