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Is there any website or mobile phone app that allows me to look up the flight path, given a specific flight number? (I'm thinking 'SeatGuru for flight paths' here.)

PS - I do know flight paths can change due to weather and traffic conditions. I wanted a site which either shows live/time-delayed actual data, or comes 'close-enough' showing flight path information that is fed to in-flight entertainment systems.

2 Answers 2

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The problem is that flight paths change quite often depending on prevailing winds, air traffic and weather patterns. So there's not always one exact flight path that you can rely on.

However, if you want to see where a plane is at any given time and what path it took, I use FlightRadar24, which is remarkably close visually to the air traffic radar screens we used to use when I did ATC software development.

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  • Wow, this is exactly what I was looking for! The coverage of flights / airlines also seems to be quite extensive! Apr 2, 2012 at 8:15
  • 3
    It's also really cool (or geeky?) to watch when something like the Icelandic volcano grounds flights in Europe - seeing them all land and the skies empty out.
    – Mark Mayo
    Apr 2, 2012 at 8:35
  • Just wanted to note that FlightRadar24 only shows aeroplanes with an ADS-B transponder. "Today about 60% (about 30% in USA and about 70% in Europe) of the passenger aircraft and only a small amount of military and private aircraft have an ADS-B transponder."
    – Casebash
    Apr 5, 2012 at 7:45
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You can check FlightAware, which gives you a map of the projected path but also the markers that flight is supposed to hit enroute. Unlike most other websites it also works for most flights not heading to or coming from the United States.

P.S. One thing to be aware of - flight paths may actually change day-to-day for the same flight number.

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  • 2
    They also have an awesome mobile app
    – littleadv
    Apr 1, 2012 at 22:42

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