Below you will find an explanation of each of the possible states for a flight in our Flight Status data.
The Flight State field might differ slightly in nomenclature across products. These are the names of the fields in each of the Flight Info Suite:
| Product | Field Name |
| Flight Info API | state |
| Flight Info Alerts | state |
| Flight Info Direct | FLIGHT_STATE |
Possible states and descriptions
| State | Description |
| Scheduled | Indicates that the flight is scheduled by the carrier. |
| OutGate | Aircraft has left the departing gate. Also known as: Chocks off |
| InAir | Aircraft has taken off. Also known as: Wheels Up, Airborne |
| Landed | Aircraft has landed. Also known as: Wheels Down, Touchdown |
| InGate | Aircraft now at arriving gate. Also known as: Chocks on |
| Canceled | Flight is now canceled. |
| Diverted | Flight has been diverted. Note that this status can happen anytime after OutGate and before InGate. |
| Proposed | Indicates a General Aviation flight is proposed for the route. |
Flight Delay / On Time / Early
Whether a flight is delayed, on time or early are not indicated as an actual value under the flight state field. In our products, we have provided that information as 'sub-states' for each of the estimated and actual departure or arrival times which can fall under any of the 'parent' states above.
Fields that indicate if a flight is on time, delayed or early by product:
Flight Info API
| Field | Description |
| estimatedTime > outGateTimeliness | Indicates if the flight is estimated to be delayed, on time, or early based on the estimated time of departure supplied by the carrier. |
| estimatedTime > outGateVariation | Shows the time difference, in HH:MM:SS of the estimated departure time in comparison to the scheduled departure time. A positive value will result in a Delay state in estimated>outGateTimeliness, while a negative value will result in an Early state. |
| actualTime > outGateTimeliness | Indicates if the flight is delayed, on time, or early based on the actual time of departure supplied by the carrier. |
| actualTime > outGateVariation | Shows the time difference, in HH:MM:SS of the actual departure time in comparison to the scheduled departure time. A positive value will result in a Delay state in actual>outGateTimeliness, while a negative value will result in an Early state. |
| estimatedTime > inGateTimeliness | Indicates if the flight is estimated to be delayed, on time, or early based on the estimated time of arrival supplied by the carrier. |
| estimatedTime > inGateVariation | Shows the time difference, in HH:MM:SS of the estimated arrival time in comparison to the scheduled arrival time. A positive value will result in a Delay state in actual>inGateTimeliness, while a negative value will result in an Early state. |
| actualTime > inGateTimeliness | Indicates if the flight is estimated to be delayed, on time, or early based on the actual time of arrival supplied by the carrier. |
| actualTime > inGateVariation | Shows the time difference, in HH:MM:SS of the actual arrival time in comparison to the scheduled arrival time. A positive value will result in a Delay state in actual>inGateTimeliness, while a negative value will result in an Early state. |
Flight Info Alerts
| Field | Description |
| estimated > outGateTimeliness | Indicates if the flight is estimated to be delayed, on time, or early based on the estimated time of departure supplied by the carrier. |
| estimated > outGateVariation | Shows the time difference, in HH:MM:SS of the estimated departure time in comparison to the scheduled departure time. A positive value will result in a Delay state in estimated>outGateTimeliness, while a negative value will result in an Early state. |
| actual > outGateTimeliness | Indicates if the flight is delayed, on time, or early based on the actual time of departure supplied by the carrier. |
| actual > outGateVariation | Shows the time difference, in HH:MM:SS of the actual departure time in comparison to the scheduled departure time. A positive value will result in a Delay state in actual>outGateTimeliness, while a negative value will result in an Early state. |
| estimated > inGateTimeliness | Indicates if the flight is estimated to be delayed, on time, or early based on the estimated time of arrival supplied by the carrier. |
| estimated > inGateVariation | Shows the time difference, in HH:MM:SS of the estimated arrival time in comparison to the scheduled arrival time. A positive value will result in a Delay state in actual>inGateTimeliness, while a negative value will result in an Early state. |
| actual > inGateTimeliness | Indicates if the flight is estimated to be delayed, on time, or early based on the actual time of arrival supplied by the carrier. |
| actual > inGateVariation | Shows the time difference, in HH:MM:SS of the actual arrival time in comparison to the scheduled arrival time. A positive value will result in a Delay state in actual>inGateTimeliness, while a negative value will result in an Early state. |
Flight Info Direct (Status)
| Field | Description |
| DEPARTURE_ESTIMATED_OUTGATE_TIMELINESS | Indicates if the flight is estimated to be delayed, on time, or early based on the estimated time of departure supplied by the carrier. |
| DEPARTURE_ESTIMATED_OUTGATE_VARIATION | Shows the time difference, in HH:MM:SS of the estimated departure time in comparison to the scheduled departure time. A positive value will result in a Delay state in DEPARTURE_ESTIMATED_OUTGATE_TIMELINESS, while a negative value will result in an Early state. |
| DEPARTURE_ACTUAL_OUTGATE_TIMELINESS | Indicates if the flight is delayed, on time, or early based on the actual time of departure supplied by the carrier. |
| DEPARTURE_ACTUAL_OUTGATE_VARIATION | Shows the time difference, in HH:MM:SS of the actual departure time in comparison to the scheduled departure time. A positive value will result in a Delay state in DEPARTURE_ACTUAL_OUTGATE_TIMELINESS, while a negative value will result in an Early state. |
| ARRIVAL_ESTIMATED_INGATE_TIMELINESS | Indicates if the flight is estimated to be delayed, on time, or early based on the estimated time of arrival supplied by the carrier. |
| ARRIVAL_ESTIMATED_INGATE_VARIATION | Shows the time difference, in HH:MM:SS of the estimated arrival time in comparison to the scheduled arrival time. A positive value will result in a Delay state in ARRIVAL_ESTIMATED_INGATE_TIMELINESS, while a negative value will result in an Early state. |
| ARRIVAL_ACTUAL_INGATE_TIMELINESS | Indicates if the flight is estimated to be delayed, on time, or early based on the actual time of arrival supplied by the carrier. |
| ARRIVAL_ACTUAL_INGATE_VARIATION | Shows the time difference, in HH:MM:SS of the actual arrival time in comparison to the scheduled arrival time. A positive value will result in a Delay state in ARRIVAL_ACTUAL_INGATE_TIMELINESS, while a negative value will result in an Early state. |
Note:
The determination of whether a flight is delayed, on time or early can often be arbitrary between use cases. As an example, a delay of 5 minutes may not be signficant to most passengers to be considered a 'real' delay but may be of interest in calculating overall on-time performance. With the above fields we make it possible for our users to determine if a flight is delayed, on time or early based on their own thresholds.