The flight-tracking app that helps me manage delays

Reading Time: 3 min

As someone who spends just as much time on the road as they do at home, certain elements of my travel routine are on autopilot. One of them is ensuring every flight that I take is tracked through Flighty, an iPhone-only app that has become a game-changer for managing delays and cancellations.

Here’s how I use Flighty to reduce stress, increase control, and give me access to operational information that airlines aren’t always motivated (or organized) enough to share.

At its core, Flighty is a flight-tracking app. It’s hyper-detailed, beautifully designed, and, most importantly, extremely proactive.

While most airline apps simply tell you when your flight is delayed, Flighty notifies you what the inbound aircraft is doing, where it is currently stuck, how many minutes the delay has grown or shrunk, and how likely it is to get worse. Even better, the app distills this into clear, digestible information, often before airlines decide to communicate changes.

Flighty gives you the data to make decisions — whether you should change to another flight, grab a meal instead of sprinting through the airport, or just mentally prepare for the inevitable snowball of delays.

It’s also a helpful tool to track flights over time, providing a detailed log of stats that explain travel patterns, types of aircraft, airports you frequent most often, and much more.

Flighty displays this in a passport-style map (that happens to be perfect for sharing on social media). Think of it as your typical end-of-year data recap, like “Spotify Wrapped,” but instead of your year in music, it’s your year in flights.

This is most useful for frequent flyers, travelers with tight connections, or anyone flying during weather-prone seasons.

In case you missed it...

This week's top 5 travel deals

As soon as I book a flight, I dump it into Flighty (or you can even sync it with your calendar so it automatically populates). I immediately get a full history of that route’s on-time performance, typical delays, and even average taxi times.

Two or three days before departure, Flighty starts monitoring the specific aircraft scheduled for my flight. This is where the AvGeek joy kicks in. I see the tail number, its recent routes, whether it’s had mechanical issues, etc.

On the day of travel, there have been times when I’ve seen my inbound aircraft waiting to take off at another airport, delayed by weather, while the airline was still claiming my flight would depart on time. Flighty, meanwhile, pinged me with “Inbound Delay: 100 minutes,” complete with a map and operational history. This matters for things like rebooking strategy and eligibility for flight disruption compensation on flights covered by EU rules.

When you travel frequently, that kind of early insight is invaluable. Flighty turns what would’ve been last-minute scrambling into an opportunity to take action. In the case above, I can see if I can get on standby on an earlier flight or simply alert a friend that I’ll likely be delayed on arrival.

And yes, there’s also a tiny thrill when you know more than the gate agent.

The toiletry bag hack every traveler needs

A hanging toiletry bag is a must-have for travelers who want to keep their essentials organized and accessible. These bags free up counter space, keep bottles upright, and make it easy to see everything at a glance. Here are some of the best hanging toiletry bags you can find on Amazon right now.

Save space with a hanging toiletry bag!

While Flighty is a free app (and only available on Apple iPhones currently), there is a paid “Pro” version. You can pay as you go for $4.99 a week, choose a $59.99 annual subscription, or pay $299 for lifetime access.

The most valuable part of a Flighty Pro subscription is “push alerts,” real-time updates about any important changes to your flight. In my opinion, this alone makes the cost worth it. The Flighty app, with Pro, is my single favorite travel tool and is a secret weapon on the day of flying.

Save space in your luggage

Keep all of your cables organized in one compact space with the ​FYY Travel Cable Organizer Pouch​. It's a large organizer that comes in a variety of colors, and it's made from waterproof and shockproof material. It's also a helpful addition for the travel neat freak.

Get it at Amazon!