Flighty App Uses AI to Predict Flight Delays with 95% Accuracy

Frequent flyers and occasional travelers alike know the frustration of delayed or canceled flights. The latest update to the Flighty app, powered by artificial intelligence, promises to alleviate some of that stress by predicting delays before they occur and explaining the reasons behind them.

Flighty’s New AI-Powered Features

ZDNET has praised Flighty as an essential app for air travel due to its exceptional alerts, notifications, and tracking capabilities. Exclusively available for iOS, Flighty’s version 4.0 introduces several new features, including delay predictions, delay causes, and airport delay trends.

How Flighty Predicts Delays

Flighty focuses on the two primary causes of flight delays: aircraft issues and airspace issues.

1. Monitoring Aircraft Activity

   • Flighty tracks a specific plane’s activity up to 25 hours before your flight. The most common cause of delays is an incoming aircraft arriving late. If a plane is delayed earlier in the day, it can create a ripple effect, causing subsequent delays. Flighty’s AI can detect these potential delays impacting your flight as early as six hours in advance, allowing you to prepare accordingly.

2. Air Traffic Control (ATC) Mandates

   • Delays caused by ATC mandates such as ground stops, storms, congestion, and staffing issues are also monitored. Flighty uses FAA data, often providing notifications before pilots are aware of delays. The app analyzes airport takeoff and landing data, using AI to identify trends that might cause delays.

Combining Data Sources

Flighty combines real-time data from various sources, including the FAA, airlines, and airports. This comprehensive data integration allows the AI to provide accurate and timely predictions. The app evaluates historical data, weather conditions, and current air traffic patterns to forecast potential delays.

Machine Learning Models

Flighty's machine learning models are trained on vast datasets, enabling the AI to learn and improve its predictions over time. These models analyze patterns and anomalies in the data, helping to pinpoint the likelihood and causes of delays with high accuracy.

Benefits of Early Delay Notifications

The key advantage of Flighty’s delay prediction is the ability to receive notifications about delays before airlines announce them. This early warning system allows travelers to make alternative arrangements quickly, reducing waiting time at the airport and avoiding the rush when delays are officially announced.

Subscription Details

Flighty is available on iPhone, Apple Watch, iPad, and Mac devices. The new features are accessible to premium subscribers who pay $4 per week, $48 per year, or $249 for a lifetime subscription. The free version of the app offers basic flight tracking, while Flighty Pro can be tried for free on one flight to test the new features.