# Flight Status API: Delays and Gate Changes | OnArrival > Receive flight schedule changes, delays, cancellations and airport updates through webhooks, including for flights booked outside OnArrival. Source: https://www.onarrival.com/flight-status --- # Get flight delays, cancellations and gate updates. Hear about the delay before your customer does. Updates are pushed to your system within seconds, even for flights booked outside OnArrival, so you can be the one who tells travellers first. [Request a key](https://www.onarrival.com/signup) [Read the docs](https://docs.onarrival.com/) flights tracked live, every day 100k+ median, source change to webhook <5s carriers — the same graph Flights books 517+ In short ## Flight Status, in four steps. Tell us which flights you care about. When anything changes, you hear about it within seconds, with a note on how sure we are. 1. Subscribe Send a flight number and date. The flight can be booked anywhere. 2. Watch We follow airline, airport and aircraft-position data. 3. Resolve When sources disagree, each detail gets a confidence score. 4. Push Changes reach your webhook in under 5 seconds (median). Sources ## Flight updates conflict. See the evidence. The airline, the airport and the aircraft itself each tell a different story about the same flight. We listen to all three and give you one answer with a confidence score. AIRLINE ### Airline systems Airline schedules and operational messages provide flight updates. Coverage and field availability vary by carrier and data source. 517+ carriers AIRPORT ### Airport & ground Airport operations systems for gates, terminals, stands and baggage belts: the ground truth the airline often learns last. Gate + belt level AIR ### Aircraft positions Position signals broadcast by the aircraft (ADS-B) and radar show what actually happened: when it really left the gate, when it took off, and diversions caught mid-flight. Live positional feed MODEL ### The confidence model When sources conflict, each detail resolves to one value with a score and its sources attached. You choose how sure it must be before your app tells the traveller. Per-field confidence How it works ## Subscribe once. We push. Subscribe with an airline code, flight number and date. One call returns the current status and registers your webhook. From then on we push each change: schedule, delay, gate, terminal, baggage belt, diversion or cancellation. Every event carries the old value, the new value and a confidence score, and arrives within seconds of any source changing. The flight does not need to be booked through OnArrival. [Read the reference](https://docs.onarrival.com/) 1 · You subscribe once Subscription 6E 1407 4 Sep 2026 webhook → api.you.com/flight-events The flight can be booked anywhere. No OnArrival booking needed. 2 · Changes come to you delay14:02 Departure moved18:05 → 18:45 confidence 0.96 gate_change16:31 Gate changedB12 → C04 confidence 0.98 · pushed 4s after the gate moved baggage_belt21:10 Belt assignednone → Belt 7 confidence 0.93 Median time from a source change to your webhookunder 5s **See the API call** ``` POST /v1/flight-status/subscriptions { "carrier": "6E", "flight": "1407", "date": "2026-09-04", "webhook": "https://api.you.com/flight-events" } // pushed 4s after the gate moved { "event": "gate_change", "old": "B12", "new": "C04", "confidence": 0.98, "source": "airport_aodb" } ``` In depth ## From polling to push. Instead of your app asking again and again (polling), changes come to you by webhook, with timestamps, sources and confidence scores. Your app decides when to notify the traveller. 01 ### One event format, every source Airline systems, airport databases and aircraft position data send very different messages. They reach your webhook as one typed event: what changed, the old and new value, when, and how sure we are. Normalise 02 ### The confidence model Sources disagree all the time: the airline says on time, the airport says the stand is empty, and the aircraft never left its origin. Each detail carries the winning value, a confidence score and its sources, so you decide when to notify. Resolve 03 ### Gate, terminal, baggage belt The changes that ruin a travel day rarely reach the airline app in time. Gate, terminal and belt changes arrive as events of their own, right down to the last belt change after landing. Ground 04 ### Diversions, detected in the air Position data can help detect a diversion before the schedule feed updates. Show the source, time and confidence alongside the new destination and arrival estimate. Airborne 05 ### Historical on-time performance 5 years of punctuality by route, airline and flight number: delay patterns, cancellation rates and seasonal trends. Set expectations at booking time, or price risk with it the way our Travel Fintech underwriting does. History 06 ### Standalone by design Flight Status is an independent service. Subscribe to any scheduled flight by number and date, including bookings made on other platforms or none at all. No OnArrival booking is required, ever. Standalone @media (prefers-reduced-motion: no-preference){ .pfs-src, .pfs-node, .pfs-out, .pfs-thr, .pfs-chip, .pfs-stamp{opacity:0;} .pfs-line{stroke-dasharray:110; stroke-dashoffset:110;} .pfs-fill{transform:scaleX(0); transform-box:fill-box; transform-origin:left center;} .pfs-ping{opacity:0; transform-box:fill-box; transform-origin:center;} .oa-illo-in .pfs-src{animation:pfsFade .45s ease-out forwards;} .oa-illo-in .pfs-line{animation:pfsDraw .6s ease-out forwards;} .oa-illo-in .pfs-node{animation:pfsFade .4s 1.05s ease-out forwards;} .oa-illo-in .pfs-out{animation:pfsFade .5s 1.55s ease-out forwards;} .oa-illo-in .pfs-thr{animation:pfsFade .4s 1.85s ease-out forwards;} .oa-illo-in .pfs-fill{animation:pfsFill .8s 1.95s ease-out forwards;} .oa-illo-in .pfs-chip{animation:pfsFade .45s 2.7s ease-out forwards;} .oa-illo-in .pfs-stamp{animation:pfsFade .6s 3s ease-out forwards;} .oa-illo-in .pfs-ping{animation:pfsPing 3s 3.2s ease-out infinite;} } /* opacity-only on text and groups; the bar and ring scale via fill-box. */ @keyframes pfsFade{from{opacity:0} to{opacity:1}} @keyframes pfsDraw{to{stroke-dashoffset:0}} @keyframes pfsFill{from{transform:scaleX(0)} to{transform:scaleX(1)}} @keyframes pfsPing{0%{opacity:.5; transform:scale(1)} 40%{opacity:0; transform:scale(1.8)} 100%{opacity:0; transform:scale(1.8)}} WHEN SOURCES DISAGREEAIRLINE“On time”AIRPORT“Stand is empty”AIRCRAFT POSITION“Still at origin”CONFIDENCE MODELONE ANSWER · 3 SOURCES ATTACHEDDeparture likely delayed0.91CONFIDENCEYOUR THRESHOLD · 0.80Above your line: notify the travelleryou decide when to speak up Capabilities ## Flight Status API capabilities Track - Per-flight subscriptions - Schedule changes - Delay + revised estimates - Gate / terminal / belt - Diversions + cancellations Push - Webhooks within seconds - Signed payloads - Retries with backoff - Event replay - Digest + batch mode Data - Per-field confidence scores - Source attribution - 5-year on-time history - UTC + local timestamps - Actual gate-out to gate-in times Integrate - REST + webhook API - Bulk subscribe - Current-state endpoint - Sandbox with replayed disruption days - No booking required The point Subscribe by flight number and date. Receive updates for the journey, including bookings made outside OnArrival. — an independent service, no booking required Flights tracked daily100k+ Source change to webhook<5s Carriers covered517+ Who it's for ## Who uses Flight Status? OTA & TMC ### Travel sellers Use delay, gate and cancellation updates for traveller notifications and rebooking workflows. Source timestamps and confidence help decide when to send an alert. EXAMPLE WORKFLOWNotify a traveller about a confirmed gate change. Fintech & super-apps ### Cards & apps You see the ticket purchase on the card. Subscribe to the flight behind it and your app becomes the travel companion, without selling a single ticket. EXAMPLE WORKFLOWTrack a flight booked outside OnArrival. Insurer ### Parametric products Delay and cancellation events, with confidence and timestamps, are the trigger feed for parametric payouts (cover that pays on a measured event). It is the same feed our own Travel Fintech products settle on. EXAMPLE WORKFLOWCheck flight events against policy conditions. Questions ## Flight Status: common questions Something we haven’t covered? [Talk to the team](https://www.onarrival.com/company#contact). We can help you work through your integration. **Do I need to book flights through OnArrival to use Flight Status?** No. Flight Status is a standalone service. Subscribe to any scheduled commercial flight by carrier, number and date, whether it was booked on your platform, through OnArrival, or anywhere else. Bookings made through our Flights API can subscribe automatically if you want them to. **Airlines, airports and trackers disagree. Whose number do I show?** Ours, with a score. Every detail resolves to a winning value through the confidence model, with the raw sources and their timestamps attached. Set a threshold and only notify travellers above it; below it, hold back or show a range. **How fast do events actually arrive?** Median under 5 seconds from a change appearing in any source to your webhook receiving the event. Delivery is signed, retried with backoff, and replayable if your endpoint was down. **Which events are covered?** Schedule changes, delays and revised estimates, gate, terminal and baggage-belt changes, diversions and cancellations, plus actual gate departure, take-off, landing and gate arrival times. Each event carries the old value, the new value, confidence and its sources. **Can I poll instead of using webhooks?** Yes. Every subscribed flight has a current-state endpoint that answers from our store, not from a live call to the data sources, so reads are fast and never rate-limited by an airline. Most integrations only poll as a periodic check; push is the point. **How far back does the historical on-time data go?** 5 years of punctuality by route, airline and flight number: delay patterns, cancellation rates and seasonal trends. Use it to set expectations at booking time or to price risk, the way our Travel Fintech underwriting does. Pairs well with ## Build the rest of the trip. [Product Flights Search, book and manage flights through one API.](https://www.onarrival.com/flights) [Product Travel Fintech Add travel insurance to the booking flow.](https://www.onarrival.com/insurance) [Product Bundles Book flights, hotels and activities as one trip.](https://www.onarrival.com/bundles) ## Related reading [All field notes →](https://www.onarrival.com/blog) [Technical · 11 min What to monitor after a travel booking is confirmed Search latency cannot tell you whether a flight changed or a refund arrived. Post-booking monitoring needs to detect supplier changes, missing updates and delays in telling the traveller. **Manan Vaghasiya**](https://www.onarrival.com/blog/observability-stops-at-checkout) [Operations · 10 min Post-booking service: who handles changes and refunds? A confirmed booking still needs support when a flight changes, a traveller cancels or a refund is delayed. Customers need a clear status, a next step and someone responsible for the outcome. **Ankit Sawant**](https://www.onarrival.com/blog/post-booking-is-the-trust-product) [Technical · 9 min The NDC capability matrix: what to check before integrating An NDC label does not tell you which bookings a connection can service. Check shopping, booking, changes, refunds and disruption support for the markets you plan to sell. **Aditi Acharya**](https://www.onarrival.com/blog/ndc-capability-matrix) Start building Try Flight Status with sandbox access. [Request a key](https://www.onarrival.com/signup) [Read the docs](https://docs.onarrival.com/)