Flight delay and gate change alerts
Gate changed. Delayed 25 minutes. Boarding now. Bags on belt 7. The things worth interrupting you for, and nothing else.
Why an alert beats a tracker you have to open.
Checking an app is a task, and the whole problem with a delayed flight is that it makes you do that task forty times. The value is not in the screen. It is in being interrupted exactly once, at the moment something you can act on has changed.
So each alert is written to answer a decision. A gate change tells you the old gate and the new one, because you need to know whether to start walking. A delay tells you the new departure time, not just "delayed" — a word that on its own tells you nothing about whether to buy lunch. An arrival alert says which belt, because that is the only remaining question.
They arrive in the language you chose, generated per person rather than per flight, so the person meeting you at arrivals gets theirs in theirs.
What sends you a flight alert
Before you leave
A preflight report a few hours out with the status and the ride summary, then a departure reminder. Both free.
Gate and desk changes
The number you walk to, whenever it moves. Usually ahead of the departure screens.
Delays and schedule changes
With the new time, so it is actionable rather than just worrying.
Landed and belt
"Welcome to Lisbon" with the gate and the baggage belt. Free, and the single most useful one for whoever is collecting you.
Read more →Flight alert questions
Which alerts are free?
The preflight report, the departure reminder, the arrival "welcome to" push and cancellations are free for everyone and always will be. Gate changes, delays, diversions, takeoff and landing status, the long-taxi notice and the inbound-aircraft warning are part of Pro.
Will it wake me up in the night?
Only for things that genuinely changed. Every kind can be switched off individually in settings, and each flight has its own master switch, so you can follow somebody's flight silently.
Do I need an account?
For notifications, yes — something has to know where to deliver them. Tracking a flight and seeing its forecast works without one.
How fast are they?
As fast as the source. Gate and status changes come from airline data feeds, which are usually ahead of the airport display boards but not always instantaneous. Position and takeoff/landing come from the aircraft's own broadcast, which is genuinely live where a receiver can hear it.
Put the flight down.
FlyBud will tap you on the shoulder if it needs you.