How to check flight status online?

Flight delays and cancellations happen every day.

And, unfortunately, you can’t do anything about it.

But there is one thing you can do. You can find out in advance if the flight is going to be on time or not. And if it’s not gonna be on time — come prepared for the delay. Or, if it's a long delay, you may also stay at home for a while longer. Here you can learn more about what to do if your flight is delayed or cancelled. But here we will show you how to check your flight status online.

We'll talk about all the best options that you have.

How to check flight status online?

There are two best ways to check flight status online.

1. Official webpage of the airport you’re flying from

Go to the official webpage of the airport you’re flying from.

For instance, your flight to Madrid is from London Gatwick.

To see if your flight will be on time, visit the official webpage of London Gatwick Airport.

Look for a “Departures” section. This is what you need.

Departing flights on the webpage may or may not be grouped by time periods.

It depends on the size of the airport.

Use arrows or dropdown to find the needed time slot, and then your flight.

Use Ctrl+F / Command+F to find your flight by its destination, if you’re using internet browser on your laptop. Or use find on page feature, if you’re on mobile right now. Pay attention to flight numbers and names of the airlines.

In the status column there is information about the departure. There you can see if the flight is departed, cancelled, delayed, or the boarding has started.

Make sure you are on the official webpage of the airport.

There might be unofficial ones as well, and any info you’ll see there may not be correct. Unfourtunately there is no one way to distinguish which one is the official and which is not.

2. Flight trackers

Another options is to use a flight tracker.

It is a service that shows real-time commercial aircraft flight tracking information on a map. 

Some of the most popular flight trackers are: FlightRadar24, FlightView, FlightAware and PlaneFinder.

One of our favorites is FlightRadar24.

It is a very popular and reliable online flight tracker, used by millions of travellers.

Search by flight number to be sure, you are looking at your flight.

Here is what kind of information it shows:

• flight number;
• origin and destination;
• flight duration;
• aircraft type;
• scheduled departure time — the time your flight should have departed; it is specified on the boarding pass and in the schedules;
• actual departure time — the time when your flight actually left for your destination;
• scheduled arrival time — the time your flight should have arrived at the destination; it is specified on the boarding pass and in the schedules;
• actual arrival time — the time when your flight actually lands; it may be earlier or later than the scheduled time of arrival.

Not only flight tracking apps help travellers, but also those picking up travellers after a flight. They can see whether a flight has landed or is on schedule, or delayed.

If you have someone picking you up from the airport, tell them about it.

Should you go to the airport, if your flight is delayed

It depends from the situation.

If it’s just an hour or so, proceed as planned.

If it’s more than that, call the airport to find out if the check in has been postoped as well. If it has been postponed, don’t go to the airport, wait and continue checking your flight status online once in a while.

How to use live flight trackers? Example with FlightRadar24

Let’s assume, you are picking up a friend at the airport.

You want to know whether a flight is landed or delayed.

How to find it out?

Go to www.flightradar24.com and type in the flight number in “Search” bar (top right).

For example, you want to know the status of the Norwegian Air Shuttle flight number DY7205.

It’s a flight from Stockholm (ARN) to Bangkok (BKK).

You can see that DY7205 has landed at 7:03 — ahead of time.

The scheduled arrival time is 7:35.

The flight departed at 15:45 (ATD), 5 minutes later that planned (STD — 15:40).

The flight took 9 hours and 18 minutes (Flight Time).

Another example:

You want to know the status of the TUI Airways flight number BY4460.

It’s a flight from London (LGW) to Lanzarote (ACE).

You can see that today it’s delayed. Scheduled Time of Departure (STD) is at 09:35, and the Actual Time of Departure (ATD) is 09:59. Standard Time of Arrival (STA) is 13:45, but the flight landed at 14:14 (Status).

Flightradar24 and flight compensation

There is one more thing these apps are useful for.

All these real-time flight trackers, like Flightradar24, can come in handy when you’ll apply for flight delay compensation. If your flight has been delayed, use FlightRadar24 to see when exactly your flight departed and arrived.

Look at the standard time of arrival (STA) and actual arrival time.

If it’s 3-4 hours later than planned, you might be entitled to flight delay compensation.

But you have to check it right after your flight (not more than 7 days after the flight). Later the flight info is available only if you have a Gold, Silver or Business subscription.

Speaking of flight delay compensation, remember, that what matters in these situations is not the time of arrival, but the moment when doors have been opened and passengers are free to leave the plane. So, a little bit later than the moment of landing.

Remember this! And if you'll need help with getting compensation, contact us!