Flighty: My Favorite Travel App
I don't normally write about my phone apps, simply because everyone has their favorite ones and it can be highly dependent on if you're an iPhone or Android user. However, I just had such a great experience with the app and I've been using it so long I feel like I can make a definitive decision that Flighty is the best travel app.
Flighty simply does most things better than any other flight tracking app or even your airline's own app. They seem to be better at alerting you to schedule changes and delays, as well as easy access to track inbound flights. It's filled with all the stats that you could love including giving you stats on a route you might frequent.
Stats for nerds
It's easy to get lost in Flighty, when browsing around at all the statistics you can really get lost in interesting information. One of the features I like is the route statistics, if you take a frequent route a lot you can see all the times you took it, which plane you flew, and average delay information.
Another cool nerdy feature is seeing if you've flown on the same airplane before, this uses current and historical flight tracking data you've tracked in the app and will tell you if you've flown a certain plane before. Additionally it gives you a general overview on the flight such as how many hours change you will go through and even the weather to expect on arrival.
Features I love
If the app was just standalone it would be an alright app, however there are some key differences that put it above and beyond and makes Flighty better than any other apps out there.
First is notifications, Flighty excels at giving you notifications about your flight. These notifications can even come in sooner than your airline will send to you. For example Delta recently changed the departure time on a scheduled flight and I got a notification from Flighty a full 2 days before I got an email from Delta telling me about my schedule change. The change ended up conflicting with an onward connection and I believe I was able to change flights before those passengers who got an email two days later and got a better flight.
Next is integrations, Apple recently introduced widgets a few years ago and Flighty has taken full advantage of them by giving you ready information on your home screen about your flights. Additionally with Live Activities, on day of departure Flighty will give you pertinent information like your gate number and flight time remaining on your lock screen. And as of a few weeks ago they added integration with the Apple Watch which is perfect, I have a specific travel watch face and this information is now front and center whenever I need.
Lastly, one of the features I want to point out is TripIt integrations as well as calendar import and export. I normally manage my trips with TripIt so I can keep all my reservations organized and planned out. Flighty intergrates with TripIt for automatic import of reservations and syncing. If you don't use TripIt but have a travel calendar, Flighty can even import your travel calendar to sync flights. You can even export your existing flights, I find this feature very handy for sharing my trips with my close family. Sometimes they don't know where in the world I am or when I'll be there. By setting up calendar export and sharing the calendar with them it gives my close family peace of mind they know where I am going to be.
Sharing is caring
I mentioned briefing about sharing a calendar export with close family members. Not everyone may want to share all of their planned flights with family or friends and that's ok. Flighty has built in sharing tools to share flight information per the flight.
There are many sharing options, you can share a link that will give the receiver a flight track of your flight. There are also options to share simple text schedule information like arrival and departure times. And for the social sharing out there they have premade maps and overlays for sharing to services like Instagram Stories, Snapchat, or any social platforms. These give less information than just sharing the flight with your friends and family but allows for great general sharing options.
Things I don't like
There is not much that I would change about this app. However one thing that really irks me is at the 24 hour mark before your flight. The app will send you a notification reminding you to check-in for your flight. Along with the check-in notification it will tell you that your flight plan has been filed. As someone who works in aviation I can tell you that your flight plan has not been filed.
Flights are generally filed with ATC between 1 and 3 hours prior to your scheduled departure. I think this text could be updated to read a bit more realistically, like "proposed flight plan" or something similar. Their wording on it frustrates me, however it's not the end of the world. If you look closely the app will update your flight planned route when it does get filed with ATC and will give you a better overview of where you are flying.
Final Thoughts
Out of all of the travel apps that I have tried Flighty is the best, there are some quirks but with the addition of Apple Watch integration and syncing with TripIt it's a must have for anyone who travels a lot. The app's notification system is very solid and informative, and the Live Activities make all information easy to glance at without unlocking your iPhone. Also big bonus points that this app is universal and it works on iPhone, iPad, Watch, and Mac. If you travel more than a few times a year it's very much worth it!
