Flighty app gets some upgrades: Why this flight-tracking app is a go-to travel companion
Editor's Note
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. 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 day-to-day and keeps an ongoing record of my travels worldwide. The paid version even provides a year-end summary that's fun to look back on.
And Flighty just got some other new upgrades: In July, it unveiled a new gate prediction service. Often, Flighty will know your gate before you do.
It has also launched Connection Assistant, which provides step-by-step guidance to help you manage your airport transfers.
And last year, the app introduced a feature that, in many cases, lets users see why their flights are delayed. Flighty tracks late aircraft issues and airspace congestion to help predict delays hours in advance — helping you get a jump on potentially switching flights or even skipping the trip altogether.
Here's everything you need to know about the Flighty app and its latest updates.
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, formerly the chief operating officer at Rocket Dollar. He said he started using Flighty in 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."
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 import flights via email or sync 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.
- 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 shows you taxi, takeoff and landing times.
- A progress bar displays while you are in flight.
- It predicts your gate, often before the airline posts the information.
- The app gives you step-by-step directions for connections.
- Upon landing, you'll be made aware of your arrival gate and baggage claim carousel.
"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," according to the company.
Indeed, I've found it a useful tool and especially fun because it appeals to my AvGeek interests.
Flighty 4.1
This summer, Flighty unveiled several cool new features.
Among them is a new step-by-step process for your connections. Flighty has inside information on almost every airport on the planet and can tell you if you need to clear passport control, recheck bags, change terminals and even if you'll need to go through security a second time. It also gives you clear time requirements.
No more asking agents or fellow passengers where to go next. It could also help you get through transfers more quickly.
"Making a connection is easily one of the most stressful moments of flying," Flighty CEO Ryan Jones said. "Knowing a connection is theoretically possible doesn't help anyone. What helps is knowing what it actually takes to reach your next gate. The new Connection Assistant shows you exactly that, so you can move through any airport like you've done it 100 times, even if it's your first."
The company says the Connection Assistant feature, "combines Flighty's best-in-class flight tracking data with airport-specific procedures and statistical modeling of millions of prior flights, and then turns it all into guidance for your exact trip."
Connection Assistant shows the typical connecting time and instructions based on your passport information.
Flighty 4.0
In an August 2025 app update, Flighty added the ability to better predict delays and let you know why your plane is delayed. The app uses aviation authority data and machine learning to provide early warnings of delays and, in many cases, tell users the exact cause of the delay. Flighty analyzes late-arriving aircraft data and monitors airport airspace to predict delays or cancellations.
The team says the new data collection means subscribers can learn how long a delay will actually be, rather than relying on airlines, which do not always provide the most accurate information about 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," Jones said.
How much is Flighty?
The upgraded version of Flighty is called Fighty Pro, and it costs $4.99 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 offers a hefty discount, bringing the annual total to $59.99.
You can also buy a lifetime membership for $299. (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. Now I wish I had.)
If you want a family plan, you can choose one for $15.99 per month, $119 per year, 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 is shown in the screenshots below. Flighty alerted me to a delay several hours before my flight to Cancun from San Francisco, and I was able to take my time getting to the airport.
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 after it was further delayed due to a mechanical issue, and returned to the gate.
In fact, to this day, Flighty still shows the flight departed on time, even though we ended up leaving more than three 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 tracks your plane starting 25 hours before your flight and 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 much time you have left.
On a recent Atlanta flight, Flighty told me that my plane would arrive a bit early.
The app can track delays while you're in the air, as shown by this notification for a flight from New Orleans to New York City. 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 displayed a nifty map of the San Francisco Bay Area and a view of San Francisco International Airport (SFO) that day.
These features can be helpful or at least interesting when you are flying and may save you from opening 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 provides useful data on your upcoming flights. You can see whether your flight is on time and the 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 flights from both my current travel year and prior years.
According to Flighty, I've flown more than 870,000 miles on 33 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, both by the year and over your lifetime.
In total, I've lost a whopping 87 hours to delays, according to Flighty.
Flighty is an AvGeek's dream
One of the best things about Flighty is all the information the app has about your flights. 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."
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."
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 a few flights.
There is good news on that front: It looks like you can now add flight records manually. That's a welcome addition to the app.
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."
As the year goes on, I can monitor my flight stats to ensure all my flights are recorded going forward. Plus, I can also go back in time now to add previous flights that might be missing from my 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
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