Flighty can now predict when your flight will be delayed – and tell you why

Flighty, the ultra-powerful flight tracking app, has been updated to version 4.0 this week with some major new features. Using machine learning and robust aviation data, Flighty 4 can proactively warn you when your flight could be delayed – and give you the exact reason for that delay.

Flighty explains that the two most common reasons for delays are late arriving aircrafts and Air Traffic Control mandates:

• Using Late Arriving Aircraft – Late planes are the #1 cause of delays. So Flighty uses machine learning to predict them, with 95% accuracy and hours before the airline.
  • Responsible for 35% of all delays in the last 10 years
• Airspace & Airport Delays – Air Traffic Control mandates are the #2 cause of delays. So Flighty taps into the same FAA and Eurocontrol data your pilot uses, deciphers mountains of aviation data to tell you the impact on every single flight, in plain language.
  • Responsible for 30% of delays in the last 10 years

Flighty 4 monitors every trackable delay reason to give you an exact explanation for why your flight is delayed. Some of the possible explanations include:

• Late arriving aircraft 
• Airport ground stops and delays
• Weather events like thunderstorms, lightning, and fog
• Closed runways
• Taxiway congestion
• Low ATC staffing
• And any other Air Traffic Control mandate

Another area in which Flighty 4 excels is with its new ability to predict delays with over 95% accuracy. Using machine learning, the app can now predict when your flight will be delayed – up to 6 hours before your airline is ready to admit it:

Flighty 4.0 uses machine learning to predict these delays up to six hours before airlines acknowledge them. Often, airlines withhold this information, preferring to inform passengers at the last minute. With Flighty, travelers will finally know the truth about their delayed flights in advance.

Flight users will now know in advance, and the company says their predictions are over 95% accurate in testing. And for the rare cases when your plane gets swapped – Flighty has an alert for that too!

Flighty can also now tap into the same data that AirTraffic Control transmits to pilots to give you a “plain language summary of how delays will impact you.” This includes things like waiting for storms to pass, spacing out flights, and other reasons flights might be grounded.

Other features in Flighty 4 include:

• Live airport performance trends: Live performance of takeoffs and landings at your airport, plus proactive alerts when issues arise.
• 40% fewer missing tail numbers, especially in Europe and Asia.
• Now you can see if your aircraft has a fun and quirky name, like “Deja Blue” or “Can You Bluelieve”.
• Clear in-app updates when your schedule changes

9to5Mac’s Take

Flighty is a staple on my iPhone’s home screen when I’m traveling or when a friend is traveling. Today’s update builds upon so much of what I already loved about Flighty, focusing on proactively providing details about flights to make travel days as smooth as possible.

I have a flight coming up next week, and I hope I don’t have to use Flighty’s new delay prediction and explanation features. But if I do, it’s comforting to know that Flighty can give me information earlier and more often than American Airlines will.

Flighty is available on the App Store as a free download and with a free trial of Flighty Pro. If you don’t travel often, you can pay $4 for a week of Flighty Pro. If you travel regularly, you can get Flighty for $48 per year.

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