FlightDex help

Questions

• Finding and adding flights
• Status and alerts
• Sharing a flight
• Boarding passes and offline use
• Pro and your account
• Your airline’s app
• Contact

Finding and adding flights

Why can’t I find my flight?

A search by flight number looks for dates from about ten days ago to about two weeks ahead. If it cannot find yours, check the flight number and the date. Flights further ahead may not be listed yet. If you know the route but not the number, the next app update adds By route: enter the two airports and the date, from yesterday up to about 11 months ahead, and tap your flight in that day’s list. The free plan has 1 route search a day and Pro has 10; a route and day already searched in the last 24 hours is answered without using one. A route search shows one page of flights, so if yours is not on it, search by its number. You can always add a flight yourself: tap Enter a flight by hand instead.

Can I bring my flights from another app?

Yes, if that app lets you export them. On the You tab, tap Bring your flights from another app, choose where the file came from, and read the preview: nothing is saved until you have seen what happens to every row. Importing is free and needs no account. See which apps you can import from.

Can I add a flight I took years ago?

Not by searching: flights more than about three months in the past can’t be looked up any more. To bring older flights into your Passport, import them from another app’s export file, from the You tab: Bring your flights from another app.

Can I keep an eye on someone else’s flight?

Yes. Add it as usual and choose Just watching: it is kept apart from your own flights and never counts in your Passport. If someone shares a flight with you, you can follow it in the app or open the link in any browser, for free. Alerts about a flight you watch come with FlightDex Pro; alerts about a flight you follow come when the person who shared it has Pro, whatever your own plan, once your phone allows FlightDex notifications. On the free plan, a watched flight’s status is refreshed when you open the app, from 24 hours before departure to landing.

Status and alerts

Why isn’t my flight’s status changing?

On the free plan, FlightDex refreshes a flight’s status when you open the app, from 24 hours before departure until it lands, and within limits: at most every few hours at first, more often in the last hours before departure and in the air, and a set number of times for each flight. In between, and outside that window, the flight shows its last known status, labelled Last known status with the time it was last updated. With FlightDex Pro, the app tracks the flight live and keeps its status current, with alerts when something changes.

What does “Updated … ago” mean?

It is when FlightDex last received fresh information about the flight from its flight-data service. On the free plan it moves on when a flight is refreshed as you open the app, from 24 hours before departure to landing; before that it is when you added the flight, unless you have since reset it to the airline’s data. Either way the screen says Last known status. With FlightDex Pro, FlightDex keeps checking, so the time moves on. If it says Updates paused, checking is on hold for now and resumes on its own; what you see is the last known status.

Why didn’t I get an alert?

Alerts about your own flights are part of FlightDex Pro; on the free plan none is sent about them. A flight that someone with Pro shares with you sends its alerts to you in the app whatever your plan, as long as notifications are allowed for FlightDex in your phone’s settings. With Pro, check four things. Notifications must be allowed for FlightDex in your phone’s settings. Each kind of alert can be turned off on the You tab, and delay alerts only come for delays longer than the size you chose there. During quiet hours, alerts still arrive but make no sound. And if the You tab says This device isn’t set up for alerts yet, reopening the app tries again.

What do the different alerts mean?

FlightDex Pro groups its alerts into seven kinds. Delays: the departure is later, the schedule has changed, or a delay is predicted from the aircraft flying in. Gate changes: a gate is assigned or changes, or the terminal changes. Departure: your flight has left the gate, and has taken off. Arrival and baggage: landing soon, landed, at the gate, and the baggage belt. Flight confirmed with ATC: the airline has filed the flight plan with air traffic control. Aircraft changes: the type of aircraft on your flight has changed before departure; this kind’s switch comes in the next app update. Cancellations and diversions: always on, because they are the alerts you can’t afford to miss.

Does FlightDex remind me to check in?

From the next app update, yes, on every plan. 24 hours before the scheduled departure of a flight you are on, FlightDex shows a reminder: “UA328 leaves in 24 hours. If you haven’t checked in yet, your airline’s app or website will show when you can.” It is on by default, with its own switch on the You tab: Check-in reminders. It is set on your phone, so nothing leaves the phone to make it. It is not sent for flights you are watching or following, or for a flight added less than 24 hours before it leaves. If you have set quiet hours, it arrives without a sound.

Can FlightDex add my flights to my calendar?

From the next app update, yes, on every plan. It is off until you turn on Add flights to my calendar on the You tab and choose one of your calendars, or On this phone only; your phone asks for calendar access then, and not before. The upcoming flights you are taking go in, not the ones you are watching or following. FlightDex keeps each event up to date with its times, terminal, gate and status, from what the app already has on your phone, and each event says when that was. On the free plan, that means an event is as current as the app was when you last opened it. An event never carries your booking code, your name or your seat, and nothing is sent to FlightDex to write it. If you edit or delete one of its events, FlightDex leaves it alone from then on. Turning the switch off stops the updates and leaves the events where they are; Remove the events FlightDex added takes out the upcoming ones you haven’t changed.

What are quiet hours?

Quiet hours are part of Pro’s alerts, and they are off until you turn them on, on the You tab. While they are on, alerts still arrive and wait in your notification shade; they just do not make a sound. A cancellation still makes a sound.

What happens in FlightDex if my flight is cancelled?

With FlightDex Pro you get an alert once FlightDex has seen the cancellation and confirmed it, and that alert can’t be turned off. The flight’s screen then says it has been cancelled and to check rebooking options with the airline. FlightDex can’t rebook you; the airline does that. On the free plan no alert is sent, and a flight’s status is refreshed only when you open the app, from 24 hours before departure, so a cancellation may not show: check with your airline.

What if my flight is diverted?

A diverted flight is landing somewhere other than planned. With FlightDex Pro you get an alert, which can’t be turned off, and the flight’s screen says it was diverted and, once it is down, that it has landed: check with your airline before travelling to meet it. On the free plan no alert is sent, and the status is refreshed only when you open the app, from 24 hours before departure, so a diversion may not show.

Sharing a flight

How do I share a flight, and what does the other person see?

Sharing a flight is free. Open the flight, tap share and send the link however you like. Whoever opens it sees the flight’s status, times, gates and route in any browser, with how long ago it was updated, with no app and no account, and can follow it for free. They never see your booking code, seat or cabin; they see the display name you chose, or “A friend”. The link stops working a few days after the flight lands, and you can take it back sooner under Links you’ve shared on the You tab. More about sharing a flight.

Boarding passes and offline use

Where are my boarding passes kept?

Only on your phone. Each pass is encrypted, with its key in your phone’s Android Keystore, and it is never uploaded. Passes are left out of Android’s cloud backup and device-to-device transfer, so on a new phone you add them again. More about boarding passes.

Does FlightDex work offline?

Partly. Your list of flights and your boarding passes work with no connection, and FlightDex draws a pass’s barcode on the phone. Anything new needs a connection, and so does the Passport, which loads from FlightDex each time you open it.

Pro and your account

I have a new phone. How do I get Pro back?

Pro belongs to your Google Play account, not to the phone. On the new phone, use the same Google account in Google Play, open FlightDex, go to the Pro screen and tap Restore purchase.

What happens when Pro ends?

Everything on the free plan stays: your flights, your Passport and history, your boarding passes and your trip notes. What stops is what Pro adds: alerts, live status, the live map, airport boards, delay predictions, Passport insights and export. A flight you were tracking keeps the last status FlightDex saw.

How do I cancel my subscription?

In Google Play, not in FlightDex. Google’s steps: on your Android device, go to subscriptions in Google Play, select the subscription, tap Cancel subscription and follow the instructions. You can still use Pro for the time you have already paid for, and uninstalling the app does not cancel it. The Subscription card on the You tab links there too: Manage or cancel in Google Play.

How do I delete a flight, or my whole account?

To delete a flight, open it and tap the bin icon, labelled Delete flight. The flight leaves your list, but if it is in your Passport, it stays there. To delete everything, go to the You tab, then Account, then Delete account. That erases your flights, history, Passport, follows, boarding passes and saved fares. It does not cancel a Google Play subscription; cancel that in Google Play. Exactly what is deleted, and what is kept.

Your airline’s app

Does FlightDex replace my airline’s app?

No. Keep your airline’s app: it is where you check in, change a booking and hold the airline’s own boarding pass, and FlightDex does none of those. FlightDex keeps your flights on different airlines in one list, keeps a record of the flights you have flown and, with FlightDex Pro, sends the same kinds of alert whichever airline you fly. A flight tracker or your airline’s app: what each one is for.

Contact

How do I contact you?

Use the feedback page, or email [email protected].